Director Bo Burnham’s full-length feature debut Eighth Grade is a movie that feels very real in the time and age of when it was filmed. For a movie to feel this authentic, the individual writing the story and the person behind the camera must be both very entuned to the nuances and have experienced first-hand what his protagonist has experienced. Burham, at age 28 at the time of this film, isn’t so far removed from the experience that he can give his characters full life and meaning, but skilled enough that he can tell a story that is presented in a way that can successfully capture those emotions, progress a storyline, and to make an end product that feels both rewarding and entertaining. While I didn’t love this film (I much more preferred the similar Mid90s, which was also about a character around or near 8th-grade and released at around the same time as this film), it is an important watch for persons in that age 12 to 15 range and also parents of children of that age, or even slightly younger and slightly older. Continue reading Eighth Grade (2018) →