I’m willing to bet that eighth grade isn’t a time many of us would want to revisit. For most, that transition from middle school to high school was a time of anxiety, insecurities, and emotional isolation. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to go through that period of my life today, with the extra layer of confusion the internet brings to our growing sense of self.
All of that is what looks to be at the center of Bo Burnham’s film Eighth Grade. As a teenager posting videos to YouTube a decade ago, Burnham built a career on incisive “pubescent musical comedy,” deconstructing issues from suicide prevention and mental health to the mockable plight of the straight white male, just to name a couple. Eighth Grade is Burnham’s feature directorial debut, and the film has gotten incredible praise out of Sundance and SXSW. Now that the first trailer has been released, it’s easy to see why.
(image: A24)
The movie stars Elsie Fisher as Kayla, a heartbreakingly shy 13-year-old in the last week of eighth grade. Here’s the official synopsis from its debut at Sundance (via /Film):
Eighth-grader Kayla Day always has her phone in hand, hoping to find connections online that might make up for those she’s unable to forge in everyday life. She makes YouTube videos aimed at other adolescents dealing with similar issues—feelings of isolation, anxiety, and invisibility—but after so easily summoning this wisdom and confidence when addressing her (barely existent) audience, Kayla finds it paralyzingly difficult to apply in real situations. In the final week of a thus-far-disastrous school year—and with high school looming on the horizon—Kayla struggles to bridge the gap between how she perceives herself and who she believes she should be.
The movie comes from A24, which has a fantastic track record of producing intimate, woman-driven stories. Just recently, they put out Lady Bird and 20th Century Women, two of my favorite movies of the last few years.
Eighth Grade hits theaters July 13th.
(image: YouTube)
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