Eighth Grade (2018)

Eighth Grade is a coming of age film written and directed by comedian and former YouTube star Bo Burnham. It centers around Kayla who’s a shy 13 year old kid at school, struggling with social anxiety but provides vlogs that give life advice. The film is set during Kayla’s last weeks of eighth grade in today’s day and age where social media and phones are an important part of young people’s life.

One of the most important issues this film focuses on that should be applauded is mental health. A lot of people today may think that social media is what affects mental health but watching the film and being someone who related to issues talked about in Eighth Grade, social media only enhances it. A lot of people, especially young people deal with anxiety and there are scenes in this film that shows it without having to dramatise it.

One scene in particular that stands out is when Kayla is in the bathroom at a classmate’s birthday pool party and has an anxiety attack. As an audience member, you know why this is happening immediately. She’s feels uncomfortable that she has to wear a swimming costume in front of the whole class, she feels like she doesn’t belong because she doesn’t have ay friends in her class, she’s scared that she’ll embarrass herself in-front of everyone. This is where social media comes into play because Kayla uses it as a way to feel more inclusive to the people at her school and more engaged in their world than her own, isolating herself sometimes from those around her.

Another important issue that this film focuses on is consent. In the film, Kayla is in an awkward situation where she feels as though it’s her fault that she’s in this position. The film shows that it isn’t her fault, and this is how people who are in situations such as these feel like.

Kayla is played by the brilliant Elsie Fisher who has a long career ahead of her. She brings out the awkwardness and emotions that Kayla feels throughout the film. Bo Burnham did a fantastic job with this film. He did a lot of extensive research to understand kids today and depict them onscreen in the right way. For example, all the kids were either in the eight grade or had just finished the eighth grade so it felt real what they were going through. He also dealt with similar issues too that the main character did so you could tell it was very personal. Josh Hamilton is incredible as Kayla’s father, Mark. You can tell that he sees the greatness in Kayla, even if she doesn’t and it’s not because he’s her father and he has too.

The score is amazing in this film and fits every scene it is used for. There is also one song which is prominent for the film that is “ Orinoco Flow” by Enya. The particular scene that this song is used for shows how we can get lost in the social media world.

In the end, anyone can relate to this film because there are situations that Kayla is in that you may relate to no matter what age you are.

New Set Up For The Blog

Hey guys. I know it’s been a while (more than two years in fact). Since the last time I wrote a blog post, I have realised that my love of reviewing movies hasn’t been the same as it was before. For years, I thought it could be because I didn’t like writing reviews at all or that I didn’t movies as much as I used to, or that I was too busy to write anything. Later, I realised that I actually do love reviewing films but not about every movie that I watch. If I go deep into why I love films so much, it’s because of the connection I have to them whether it’d be a personal experience or the atmospheric experience that a movie takes you on. So from this, I have decided to change up this blog. I will now just be writing reviews about films that I feel passionate about, whether it’d be good or bad, personal or not. So, I hope you can come on this journey with me and enjoy what I have to share.