Eighth Grade

In its ability to capture the importance of a certain moment in a young person's life, Eighth Grade is as comparably convincing, sincere and unsentimental as Call Me By Your Name (the monologue delivered by the character of the father also ranks among the highlights of both films). Don’t expect a teen comedy. The film is mainly a drama, sporadically sensitive in its approach to the main heroine and occasionally humorous. Many films merely talk about the need to be oneself. Eight Grade understands that need and shows how terribly difficult it is to accept oneself, to overcome the fear of being embarrassed, of not being cool enough. Age does not play such a role. Some people still experience a battle between their nature and peer pressure even after reaching adulthood. Burnham’s feel for the nuances of the life of the socially anxious internet generation and his understanding for one slightly timid girl of above-average intelligence are exceptional and I hope that he will make more empathetic portraits of young protagonists like this one (or Lady Bird, The Edge of Seventeen or The Diary of a Teenage Girl). This is a film with which I definitely want to spend more time and appreciate more how it involves the soundtrack in the storytelling and how cleverly it works with, for example, the interaction of the main protagonist and her surrounding environment (by means of subjective sound and the size and sharpness of the shots), thanks to which we perceive and experience the surrounding reality just as she does. And, without any exaggeration, Elsie Fisher should be nominated for an Oscar. 90% (27.09.2018)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such authentic dialogues and realistic characters in an easygoing teen drama. It’s a pity that all those smart subplots and the original highlighting of key moments in life through the video recordings of the protagonist that separate each of the stages of adolescence are part of a terribly unoriginal story with an emotional climax that won’t leave much of an impression. But it still deserves my admiration, especially Burmham, for working with this playful theme in such a good an entertaining way, and not falling into impersonal creator’s onanism, which requires a considerable dose of talent. 80% (14.12.2018)