Memories of ‘Eighth Grade’ come flooding back
Director’s feature film debut is authentic, compassionate portrait of girl’s struggles
No one in their right mind wants to go back to eighth grade.
The chances are you were a victim and would prefer to have middle school wiped from your memory altogether. Or maybe you victimized others and are dealing with the guilt of that role, after (hopefully) developing some humanity in the ensuing years.
Into this mildewy gym locker of fear and regret, Bo Burnham boldly crafts “Eighth Grade,” one of the more thoughtful and valiant feature film directorial debuts in recent memory.
The movie brings to mind other first efforts focusing on young outcasts finding their way, including Todd Solondz’s “Welcome to the Dollhouse” (1995) and Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture” (2010). And yet this project has more than style, humor and humiliations. It has an overwhelming sense of compassion. Burnham takes viewers back to a place they would rather not go, and finds goodness, without sacrificing a bit of accuracy.
“Eighth Grade” follows Kayla, in a captivating performance by Elsie Fisher, whose authenticity is so strong, she becomes a collaborator in the filmmaking. Overt bullying has been eradicated in Kayla’s world; there is no “Carrie”- or even “Sixteen Candles”style hazing. That atmosphere has been replaced by something arguably worse. With
her classmates’ blank stares and lack of reciprocal kindness, Kayla is made to feel worthless.
The bulk of the plot is a harrowing journey, as Kayla takes the empty advice she’s been dispensing on her ghost town of a YouTube channel and tries to do something about her social situation.
There are scenes of comedy. And there are scenes of pure social and sexual horror — including one that will be discussed as long as Burnham makes films — that in the moment will make audience members want to flee the theater to keep their own buried adolescent memories from surfacing. But the prevailing emotions are of bravery and hope.
Burnham starts strong, introducing Kayla on the last days of eighth grade, as she sifts through the time capsule she compiled for herself two school years earlier. She barely recognizes the content, including a SpongeBob toy, Justin Bieber photo and worn softball. Kayla’s athletics career has long since ended, her body now awkward and her face battling acne. The note she wrote to herself is filled with a childish optimism that has died.
The rest of “Eighth Grade” is a quest to regain that optimism, in a social minefield that seems no less perilous or improbable than Sam and Frodo’s journey in “Lord of the Rings.”
The low-budget feature has outstanding writing, pacing and sound design, clearly influenced by the musical background of Burnham, who had success as a YouTube music and comedy teen star in the mid-2000s. But what is most striking is the tone set by the writer-director. Burnham projects authenticity in his 13-year-old protagonist and her 40-something father, played by Josh Hamilton with unconditional love yet a painful lack of connection. And not just authenticity in their dialogue, but also a sense of how an eighth-grader and her single dad would interact in the current moment.
Since Burnham is exactly halfway between their ages, he must be either: (1) a man with a superhuman instinct to carefully tap into both his older and younger psyche; or (2) a director who has a striking ability to collaborate with his cast and crew — maintaining his distinct style, while seamlessly incorporating other perspectives.
There are flaws in the lowbudget feature that probably will become more stark in repeated viewings. One terrible decision by Kayla seems out of character, even in the insanity of a crush. Some of the smaller supporting roles are surprisingly one-dimensional considering the depth in Fisher’s performance. But these quibbles are all but inconsequential, when analyzing a movie of such honesty and power.
The movie received an Rrating because of its narrative choices, making the comedy/ drama a potentially controversial film for eighth-graders to view. That may be Burnham’s boldest move of all – leaving in a few seconds that make his film more real, knowing it might limit the marketing potential.
“Eighth Grade” is a beautiful and uncompromising piece of art, from a distinctive new talent.