Eighth Grade
2018 · Directed by Bo Burnham
Original language: English
- comedy
- drama
The story
Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.
What it’s like
Warm, uneasy and close-up: long stretches of handheld camera stay pressed against a thirteen-year-old's face in suburban rooms, bedroom glow from phone screens, fluorescent school hallways, and the bright flat daylight of a pool party that never quite feels like fun. The palette is soft and slightly washed, with the sound design leaning on ambient hum, notification pings, and awkward silences rather than a driving score. The mood is anxious tenderness, a cringe-comedy that aches underneath, best suited to a late-night alone sitting, a reflective weekday evening, or a watch with someone who remembers being that age. Pacing is loose and observational, scenes often running a beat past comfort, and the emotional arc follows a girl trying out versions of herself on camera and in person, slowly finding a steadier voice. Intensity is low: some peer humiliation and social discomfort, a tense scene involving an older teen, but no gore and no graphic violence. It is for viewers who want an honest, funny, sometimes painful portrait of early adolescence, and for anyone who has ever rehearsed a conversation in the mirror.
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