A comedy movie that follows Kayla, a young girl in her last grade year in the middle school. She struggles in her last week there, can't wait to join the high school thinking that there the life will be fine and her whole life will change to better.
As much as Burnham can be applauded, it's impossible not to clap even harder for the pitch-perfect acting of newcomer Elsie Fisher, a marvel in the lead role of an apparently unremarkable 13-year-old.
This is a movie that refuses to shy away from some fairly dark realities yet at the same time doesn't dwell on them in ways that feel exploitive or supercilious.
Eighth Grade is a harrowing portrait of anxiety and acceptance in a post-social-media landscape, showing how all of us cope with an ever-changing, constantly refreshing world.
[Bo Burnham] captures the slings and arrows of adolescence, the high drama felt by not-quite-adults who still think everything is a matter of life and death, with an astonishing amount of empathy.
Here's a comedy about the trials, tribulations and compulsive worries of youth told with empathy that does credit to first-time writer/director Bo Burnham.
Burnham is clearly conflicted about the emotional effects of the constant comparisons, competitions and invidious voyeurism young people are subjecting themselves to nearly all day long. And he gets the subjective experience right.
There's plenty of discourse on how The Youth spend too much time with screens, but Eighth Grade is more interested in understanding Kayla's story on her terms than judging it on someone else's.
