(#15) Eighth Grade (2018) - [7.75/10]

Eight-grader, Kayla, faces school-life/teenage troubles.

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.

How would I describe this film in one word?

Raw.

Note Raw. This is a very really film. Very cringey but very relatable. It's probably cringe worthy because it's so relatable to our school life and similar to situations that we've faced. The movie does not shy away from portraying the protagonist in the embarrassing way that she does because that's what they want you to feel because that's how you felt when you were in her situation.

Review

The story follows Kayla, an eighth grader in her final week of eighth grade where after being invited to a 'cool girl's' party, decided to completely reinvent herself for the better and become more confident. Because she is a girl who thinks that people think she's shy but actually she's confident where really she is actually shy but she thinks that way cause she desperately wants to break out of that she'll and that categorization of being shy - which is incredible because I can relate to that so much. She feels many of the emotions that I (and maybe plenty others) used to feel at her age of being shy, anxious, insecure and lacking self-esteem. This really shows the amount of thought the writers of the movie put into the making of this film, how they really wanted to portray an authentic eighth grader dealing with actual eighth grade struggles of socialization and acceptance and peer pressure which can really put you down. So props to the screenplay and props to Elsie Fisher who played Kayla so truly and vibrantly.

RATING: 7.75/10

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Director: Bo Burnham

Rated: R

Runtime: 1 hr 33 min

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Starring: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson