Eighth Grade Review

Eighth Grade is a film written and directed by Bo Burnham. This film came in to my notice while I was browsing the internet for some good movies of the year. The plotline of the film as well as the acclaim received for the film compelled me to watch it. And after watching it, I can say that this film portrayed youngsters in the most accurate way possible.

Plot: Follows Kayla Day, in her last week of middle school before graduating to high school.

Story and direction: For a first-time filmmaker, Bo Burnham has done an outstanding job. He has very nicely and aptly depicted what adolescents go through while entering the new phase of their lives. The story doesn’t have anything new to it but the way Burnham and his team have approached it is very commendable. I could very easily relate to the struggles Kayla was going through. I also liked the way social media was depicted in the film. We saw one portion of the depiction in this year’s sci-fi READY PLAYER ONE. But this film had a much more grounded and realistic approach to the theme. Also, so wonderfully portrayed is the relation between Kayla and her dad with him being supportive of her every time. Even we also do see Kayla have ha graph at the film, with her being someone different in the initial minutes of the film to being someone else in the final minutes. The way Kayla’s videos were shot was also impressive. The cinematography was awesome and special mention goes to the background score. I mean I was impressed at the kind of music that was used to depict certain scenes especially the one in which Kayla looks at Adrien. Many people were quite concerned of its rating being R. But for me that was the most correct step. At the stage in which Kayla is in the movie, everybody tends to try new things and I commend Bo Burnham to show such things on a national platform.

Performances: Elsie Fisher was definitely the star of the show. Being 15 years old, what she did was impressive and showed that talent can just come from anywhere. Josh Hamilton was good as Mark. Catheine Oliviere was excellent as the bitchy Kennedy. Emily Robinsion too gave a decent performance. Also impressive were Luke Prael, Daniel Zolghadri and Jake Ryan.

Favorite Scene: It would be the once where Kayla confronts her Dad while she is visiting her friends because Mark spies on her. Why this scene impressed me is because I was in a conflict as to whose side I take since both were correct in their justification.

Verdict: EIGHTH GRADE for me was a film that I could very well relate to as it very well depicts the mindset of adolescents like Kayla who show themselves differently but are a very different person all-together. Even if I wanted to fault the film, I couldn’t.

I am going with a 10.