Passing Grade

I've been listening to the podcast Filmspotting for a number of years -- long enough for them to repeatedly highlight a particular movie, convince me to put it on my watch list, and for me to then lose track of that movie before actually getting around to it. One such movie was 2018's Eighth Grade, which fell off my radar and then came back onto it thanks to the "life in COVID" Netflix special Inside; Bo Burnham was the writer and director of both.

Eighth Grade is a comedy/drama/coming-of-age story about Kayla, a young girl in the titular year of school. She's navigating all the pressures of that difficult age, struggling with anxiety, and trying to cope by cultivating a social media persona. 94 minutes of heart and humor ensue.

This movie is a particular subgenre of movie I don't generally go for -- a "slice of life" story that isn't particularly driven by plot, serving more as a character study. I didn't exactly love this particular take on the genre either... though I could feel that it was a very well-made version of the formula.

What's key here is the accuracy in this slice of life story. For adults in the audience, this movie serves as a powerful reminder of what an awkward age your early teens are -- that period of time where few have found connections with people like themselves, in large part because they have little or no idea who they are as individuals. Yet familiar as all that is, Eighth Grade also serves as powerful notice that what you remember of school at that age is nothing like today's experience. Modern issues like social media and shooting drills pepper the movie, keenly pointing out that the current generation has basically all the problems of the last generation, plus new ones.

The young lead actor of the movie is really very good. Elsie Fisher gives a very natural, honest performance. She has seemingly no vanity, which is truly remarkable given that she's obviously very close to the age she's portraying here. With such a game partner in the creative process, writer-director Bo Burnham is essentially able to do what he'd wind up doing himself when he made Inside a few years later in the pandemic: peel away any masks to expose some very sensitive emotions beneath.

But, as I said, there kind of isn't much of a plot here. And the other characters outside of Kayla aren't that compelling. (The cluelessness of her father is especially difficult. He gets a nice inspirational speech near the end, but it feels like he's exceptionally lucky that his daughter is doing as well as she is, given how little he actually knows about her.)

I would give Eighth Grade a B-, which is right on the cusp of a "broad recommendation." Specifically, if you're a person who doesn't mind a meandering story (yes, a 90 minute movie can meander) and is satisfied to watch one fully-formed character, then this will probably hit the mark for you.