Eighth Grade Review

I initially wanted to see this movie in theaters, and I'm kinda glad I didn't, because typically my friends want to discuss the movie we saw. After this movie, I was so speechless, I didn't even want to text anyone back for awhile because I was still digesting what I just watched, it was that good.

Story- Kayla is in her final stretch of eighth grade, with only one week to go. She's making a transition to the start of her high school career, and she makes videos in her spare time on the internet. She doesn't have a ton of friends, she isn't exactly the most comfortable in social situations, and has her eye on someone who doesn't really know she exists. We've all been there, and it's what makes this story so compelling. It's always a challenge for filmmakers to create something as simple as an experience through school where nothing truly significant happens (in contrast to The Breakfast Club, where the catalyst is their detention and subsequent antics throughout the film), but it makes it that much more gratifying when it is done well. In Napoleon Dynamite, what's the overarching theme, what unifies the plot? Nothing really, yet it keeps your attention the whole way through. Arguably nothing humongous happens in terms of plot, but it's the little experiences that she has along the way that create that compelling narrative, and makes you want to see how she ends up. The fact it was written and directed by someone as young as Bo also aids in creating that relatable dialogue and experience.

Cinematography/Props- The focal piece of this movie, besides Elsie, is her phone. This is kind of the "life" of some people because as is clearly evident, a lot of people are controlled by their phones. In this movie, since she doesn't have really many or any true friends, at least to start, her phone is always there for her to look on Instagram and see all of her classmates and their experiences, to post photos of her with various filters from Snapchat, and research things on in addition to her laptop. Another interesting thing about the shots in this movie is that Bo wanted it all to be practical, so every shot of her phone screen is real, not faked. This meant that the crew had to go and make all of these fake social media accounts, post photos and create captions for everything, which is painstaking I'm sure but in other ways fun and rewarding, and I as a viewer and being appreciative of behind the scenes attention to detail can really commend. Plus, she creates videos talking about topics that she herself is dealing with, which is what Bo did to get his start in comedy, which is fun to see come full circle. Even the other people you observe in the movie are almost always looking at their phones at some point, which is very realistic to how people are nowadays. Again, more could be said about these deliberate choices but that's for another day to dissect.

Acting- Elsie Fisher is really the only "true" actor in the film in the sense that most other characters are only on the screen for short periods of time. I realize after writing this the deliberate nature of this decision, and it makes sense. This movie has way more layers after you slowly start to digest it. She conveys the sense of being uncomfortable in social situations, the teenage angst that you've no doubt experienced with your parents, the frustration you feel in school after a failed attempt to talk to someone or trying to form a connection with someone. She really was a breakout star and I can imagine she'll become a commodity in movies as she progresses with her acting career. The other actor that I wanted to highlight was her father, Josh Hamilton. The scenes he was in you could just feel the chemistry between him and Elsie, and it was so sweet. He's just such a nice, dorky but lovable character that you can't help but applaud for how he deals with the daughter who isn't always appreciative for what he does but in the end she knows he's looking out for her best interests.

Directing- I've been a big fan of Bo Burnham since I watched his first special on Netflix, "What", around the time it came out. Ever since I've adored all of his works, one of his pinnacle achievements being a show many probably haven't heard of, Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous. It's become one of my favorite shows and sadly it only got one season, but every episode is comedy gold and the show has various solid messages. Sadly people don't understand comedy as much evidently, (or the fact it was on MTV may have limited the quality of the audience) but this movie has it all. He had a clear vision that he set out to achieve, and I feel he exceeded that. I watched the behind the scenes from the movie and obviously he is a man, so he felt that it would've been too much centered only around his experiences and potentially not being relatable to more people, so he chose to have it be a young girl's journey through eighth grade instead, and even though he made this creative decision, I still found myself relating very much to a lot of the situations in the movie, and that's why it affected me so much, same with his show. He makes a lot of interesting choices, and without sounding shallow, one instance that I genuinely appreciate is he didn't use makeup from what I could tell at all on Elsie, to show that not everyone is perfect. and it doesn't hurt or isn't the end of the world to be comfortable in your own skin, which varies from the norm of everyone using makeup to cover any sort of blemishes so they don't show up on film. He also lingers with certain shots, such as the scene where the band is playing, but the slow pan serves to show how she feels she is an outsider and isn't fully invested in this particular activity. I could talk for days about my appreciation but I'll cut it here.

Soundtrack/Audio- This isn't a movie that is crammed with a ton of licensed tracks to "relate to the youths", which is refreshing because there are other ways for it to be relatable to people. The score was surprisingly developed actually, which isn't to say I didn't expect it to be good, it's just with smaller budget films you run the risk of not being able to flesh it out as much.

Final Verdict- A+. This movie I feel perfectly encapsulated the time we live in and the genuine nature of the dialogue was just so refreshing to see in a movie, especially for a first time director of a movie. I love to jokingly quote the terribly great movie The Room, but one thing he aimed to express with that movie is "you'll see a reflection of yourself in the movie". While it didn't really work for that movie, the quote does apply to this one. Really, go watch it for yourself to experience all of these things that make for an outstanding film.

#Comedy #BoBurnham #ElsieFisher #Drama