Film Review: Eighth Grade (2018)
by Emily Nagle
Growing up, I was always a fan of Bo Burnham’s work. His songs and poetry are so creative, and I loved his witty comedy style. Of course, when I found out he was making a movie that would be released in theaters in summer 2018, I had to see it.
What makes Eighth Grade so special is how authentic it is. It’s not about anything super crazy. The movie follows Kayla Day as she completes her last week of middle school. As a member of Generation Z, I knew how this felt – eighth grade is awkward, and can be scary sometimes. Kayla herself has a lot of . It’s also super realistic in showing life as an adolescent in the late 2010s, as the kids are shown to spend a lot of time on their phones and computers, mostly scrolling through social media. Although she gets voted “Most Quiet” in the yearbook, Kayla has a YouTube channel where she posts motivational videos addressing topics such as how to be confident; however, the videos get almost no views.