Bo Burnham’s stunning indie comedy Eighth Grade opens with a YouTube advice video shot by shy 13-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher) on her laptop. Her topic is “being yourself,” but it contrasts with her wish to be anyone else. She stumbles over her words, stopping and starting, professing how important it is to be who you really are even though she has no idea who she is yet. Burnham showcases universal eighth-grade experiences: there are shots of kids messing with their braces, huffing highlighters, and suffering romantic crushes. But Eighth Grade also comments on how instant access to social media can amplify teenagers’ awkwardness and anxiety.
Burnham shows a scene of Kayla in sex-ed class, but her real education comes online. She nurses a crush for her classmate Aiden (Luke Prael), a skateboarding heartthrob who won for Best Eyes. Aiden is known around school for wanting nude photos from girls, so Kayla not-so-subtly lets slip that she might have a dirty-photos folder on her phone. Instead of going through the awkward process of dating in person, she googles “how to give a good blowjob” and tries, unsuccessfully, to practice with a banana. After a confrontation with a high school boy in the backseat of his car, Kayla comes home feeling guilty, as if she should apologize for her own hurt feelings. When she breaks down in her bedroom, Burnham replaces the audio with the countdown clock on her laptop camera, and Kayla declares that she’s going to stop making videos: “I’m always nervous.”
Directed by Bo Burnham. R, 94 min.
