Eighth Grade (Blu-ray) R

Based on the most awkward year of your life
87K ratings
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Format:  Blu-ray
item number:  6RAWK
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Blu-ray Details

  • Rated: R
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 34 minutes
  • Encoding: Region A
  • Released: October 9, 2018
  • Originally Released: 2018
  • Label: Lions Gate

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring &
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Directed by
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Composition by

Entertainment Reviews:

Certified Fresh99%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 294

Upright83%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 4,531
Rating: 4/5 -- Elsie Fisher is absolutely outstanding in the role of Kayla Day, like an undiscovered Fanning sister: her smart, observant performance gives the audience instant access to her vulnerabilities, hurt feelings and quiet determination. Full Review
Guardian
Apr 24, 2019
[T]he real genius of EIGHTH GRADE is its universality -- an honesty and compassion that cut across generational boundaries.
The Guardian
Apr 28, 2019
Ms. Fisher -- only 14 when the movie was shot -- complements with a performance that’s so visceral and unforced that you might find yourself transported back in time...
New York Times
Jul 11, 2018
Rating: 5/5 -- Eighth Grade is a masterpiece. Full Review
London Evening Standard
Apr 28, 2019
Rating: 5/5 -- Though the cast is young; being made up of mostly teenagers; they are well versed and trained and Burnham elicits terrific performances from then all. Full Review
FlickDirect
Jul 12, 2019
Rating: 5/5 -- [Director Bo] Burnham may have crafted a simple story about the most ordinary of teenage girls, but it speaks with the emotions of a true cinematic epic.
Independent (UK)
Apr 26, 2019
Rating: 3.5/5 -- Burnham's biggest gift here as a storyteller is his compassion and refusal to pretend the differences between today's kids and the rest of us is anything other than trivial. Full Review
Spectrum Culture
Jul 17, 2019

Product Description:

In his feature film directorial debut, comedian Bo Burnham deftly encapsulates the awkwardness, angst, self-loathing and reinvention that a teenage girl goes through on the cusp of high school. Given that the 27-year-old stand-up comic achieved fame as a teenager himself through YouTube by riffing on his insecurities, he is uniquely capable as the film's writer and director to tell the story of Kayla, an anxious girl navigating the final days of her eighth grade year, despite creating a protagonist w female instead of male.

Like Burnham did more than a decade ago, 13-year-old Kayla turns to YouTube to express herself, where she makes advice vlogs in which she pretends to have it all together. In reality, Kayla is sullen and silent around her single father and her peers at school, carrying out most of her interactions with her classmates on Instagram and Twitter. Her YouTube videos are a clever narrative tool that provide insight into her inner hopes and dreams, much like an aspirational online diary.

One of EIGHTH GRADE's biggest triumphs is in its realism. Played with charm and delightful nuance by Elsie Fisher, Kayla doesn't speak a single line that isn't peppered with "umm," "like" or "whatever." Her posture and gestures communicate how uncomfortable she is in her own skin. She has acne that she hides under makeup and Snapchat filters. Her attempts at depth in her videos are adorably off the mark, such as her advice that, "The hard part of being yourself is that it's not easy."

Burnham's attention to detail helps weave a 2018-specific yet universally relatable image of teendom. Kayla stays up late scrolling through Buzzfeed quizzes and slime videos, has a HAMILTON calendar and Justin Bieber poster on her wall, and signs off her videos with the slang term "gucci." Her middle school sex ed video includes an actress saying learning about puberty is "gonna be lit." The reference might be of the now, but the feeling it conveys, of adults awkwardly appropriating slang for their own agenda, resonates no matter what era in which you came of age.

EIGHTH GRADE's unique skillfulness in communicating Kayla's inner life is often thanks to the film's sound and music teams. The three beeps of a Mac laptop's Photobooth application precede each of Kayla's vlog monologues. Enya's "Sail Away" provides a poignant soundtrack to Kayla escaping into the online world on her phone late at night. The score swelling to dramatic highs then abruptly stopping creates many of the film's laugh-out-loud moments and mirrors the emotional rollercoaster that is puberty. When Kayla attends a pool party, she pauses just inside a sliding glass door, nervously watching the scene outside while a Jaws-like theme plays. She finally reaches for the handle and the music cuts out right as the door sticks, ruining her cinematic act of bravery.

At one point, Kayla gets the chance to hang out with some high school kids at the mall, and one of them comments that kids Kayla's age are "wired differently" because they began interacting with social media at such a young age. However, while Kayla does spend a majority of the film in the glow of her iPhone screen, EIGHTH GRADE illustrates that as much as things are different for the current tech-emersed generation of children, their emotional evolution remains the same. Kayla must still navigate judgmental queen bees, predatory popular boys, clueless teachers, and overprotective parents on her way to coming into her own. For anyone who's ever been an eighth grader, Kayla's quiet journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance is encouraging and edifying.

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Product Info

  • Sales Rank: 78,093
  • UPC: 031398292517
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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