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Eighth Grade
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Get ready to pull out your middle school time capsule, because Bo Burnham‘s indie sensation Eighth Grade is now streaming on Prime Video. Starring up and coming talent Elsie Fisher, Eight Grade follows Kayla Day, an awkward teenage girl in her final weeks of middle school. Burnham’s film was hailed by critics as “achingly honest,” “a revelation,” and a “generous portrait of adolescent awkwardness,” and even earned rave reviews from teen movie queen Molly Ringwald, who described it as “the best film about adolescence I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe ever.” This is The Breakfast Club‘s Claire Standish we’re talking about — that’s high praise.
Like many middle school girls, Kayla struggles with self-confidence, but she tries to hide her anxieties by producing motivational vlogs about her “life.” After posting each video, Kayla falls into a social media wormhole that only increases her anxiety: the more she looks at her classmates’ photos, videos, and posts, the lonelier she feels. Kayla’s single father (Josh Hamilton) tries desperately to connect with her, but his efforts just push Kayla further away. As high school approaches, both Kayla and her father are forced to face the things they’ve been avoiding and maybe grow up a little in the process.
Eighth Grade currently has a 99% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason: it paints a heartfelt, nuanced portrait of adolescence unlike any show or movie out there. The film, from lauded production company A24, has been nominated for dozens of awards since its July 2018 premiere, including Best Actress in a Comedy at the Golden Globes, Best Directorial Debut at the National Board of Review Awards, and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Most recently, Eighth Grade was nominated for three Critics’ Choice Awards, and Fisher took home an awards for Best Young Actor/Actress.
Under A24’s existing deal with Amazon, Eighth Grade will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video for the foreseeable future (if you don’t have a Prime account you can also rent/purchase it on VOD or via Amazon, iTunes, Vudu or Google Play). But that being said, you should probably still stream Eighth Grade ASAP, or at the very least, before the Oscar nominations are announced on January 22.
