What's so special about "Eighth Grade", regarded by many celebrities as the top ten films of 2018.
The posterity is terrible. The post-90s director Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade" is a solid mirror and powerful control, which is eye-catching. The film focuses on the 13-year-old Kayla, who is about to graduate from junior high school, a week before graduation, wandering and uneasy. The film's narrative is calm, not fancy, and there is no exaggerated plot. It looks everyday, but it is extremely delicate. It can be seen that the director has a unique taste for Kayla's inner portrayal.
The film may emphasize that having an independent personality is more important than simply blending in or pleasing others. There must be a shadow of its growth, although the film was made of a girl. Who understands the young girl's thoughts. Perhaps, we can't see the director's ambitions in this movie, but it highlights his practical and delicate thinking. In my opinion, this is much more reliable than those who are always talking about it.
The film is as plain as water, and it captures the little anxious feeling in Kayla's heart. As a child from a single-parent family, her mother died young, and her father grew up alone with her own baby fat. She felt that she was fair-looking, autistic, and had no good classmates, so she could only masturbate by uploading and chatting with selfie videos every day. In the video, she is full of positive energy, showing herself how to be a confident self, how to fully express herself, and how to face her social fears. This is totally different from the real reality. This shows that her multi-faceted nature is only due to the shortcomings of communication, and she can't take the first step. After that, she can only follow the same steps and become a lame duck in action.
Indeed, she hopes to have a good relationship with girls, but Benhua Kennedy always keeps her head high and indifferent, and always taunts her and makes her foolish. She is eager to talk about a serious relationship and is obsessed with Aiden, the boy in the class, but this kid just wants to tease her and ask her if she can blow, so that she goes home with a banana to watch the video and learn how to blow. What I hate the most is my dad, who talks like an old woman, she doesn't care about it, except to add chaos to her, it doesn't bring her happiness.
It seems that there is nothing in her life that makes her happy, and the video is too lazy to record , so she can only shrink in her own world and feel sorry for herself. What else can she do besides listening to music with headphones. The dark Zhong Kaila, facing the open computer, was in a daze. It really hurts. How many children like this in this world think they lack care, and enter annoying dreams with unhappy and even choked mood every night.
The turning point of the film was when Kayla entered the Shadow High School internship and met Olivia, a cheerful high school girl, her nervous heart slowly opened up. A good atmosphere can be contagious. She is no longer self-enclosed, and the feeling of being seduced by high school boys is really uncomfortable. She always feels like a fool in front of boys. She became rational and less emotional. The pure Kayla gradually matured from the pain. She began to understand her father's rants, had a long-night conversation with her father, and asked her father to burn all her "past" books. This is a complete farewell to her naive past, and she also has a good expectation for high school studies.
"Eighth Grade" tells us that everyone must learn to grow up, whether they are in the eighth grade, high school graduates, or even college graduates, they must face the problems encountered by each age group. Don't deliberately and bravely face it. It really doesn't matter what others think of yourself. The quality of your studies and the quality of your life have nothing to do with them. To integrate into the collective calmly is just to be a better self, not to cater to others everywhere. The important thing is to truly trust yourself from the bottom of your heart.
In fact, let yourself live comfortably, no longer entangle the eyes of others, and learn to have the ability to think independently, so that you can be in a normal natural state. In a word, if you do it right, your whole world will be right. In fact, life is that simple.
2019.1.2
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