Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 13 July 2018
Click 'like' for Bo Burnham's 'Eighth Grade'

By JAKE COYLE, insecurity (certainly not an
Associated Press affliction reserved only for
Not even Joseph Conrad teens). In one scene, Kayla
had the courage to ven- wakes up, does her make-
ture into that darkest of up from a YouTube tutorial,
hearts: middle school. and then crawls back into
Bo Burnham's "Eighth bed to take a Snapchat
Grade," however, plunges selfie.
us into the day-to-day ex- That the Internet is damag-
perience of a 13-year-old ing Kayla isn't hard to get;
girl, Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) when her iPhone screen
with just as much intensity cracks, she pricks her finger
as a journey down the Con- on it.
go. Every sling and arrow, But she is gloriously plucky.
in the mall food court or on The Post-its on her mirror
Snapchat, is felt acutely. read "Go get 'em!" and
Whenever Kayla's crush, "Be sexy!" When an already
the (to her eyes) smoldering cringe-inducing birthday
Aiden (Luke Prael), steps in This image released by A24 shows Emily Robinson, left, and Elsie Fisher in a scene from "Eighth party sets up karaoke, we
the room, the world turns Grade." start covering our eyes for
slow-motion and the music Associated Press the all certain embarrass-
thunders. End-of-the-year ment to come. But she
superlatives? The horror. media and cell phones are YouTube show, only no- Tube, she insists that she just goes for it. Burnham keeps
Such harrowing moments doing to it. body watches her earnest chooses not to talk a lot. At the camera focused on
have long been stretched The 27-year-old former life advice. "The hard part school, she's named "quiet- Kayla and her personal tri-
for their comedy ("Middle YouTube sensation turned about being yourself is that est." Her loving single dad umph, not the reaction of
School: The Worst Years stand-up comedian turned it's not easy," she says into (an adorable Josh Hamil- the teen onlookers. Sorry,
of My Life") or their torture feature filmmaker is an her bedroom camera be- ton) is seemingly the only Rock. Kayla is the summer's
("Welcome to the Doll- unlikely guide for such a fore reminding viewers to one in her corner, and she most awe-inspiring hero.
house"), but rarely have crucible of adolescence. hit "like" and signing off with mostly just sighs at him or Another movie might lead
they been rendered with Burnham's comedy, while a forced trademark: "Gu- tunes him out his very dad- inevitably toward scenes
such precision and empa- evolving, has typically cci!" Sweet, shy and acne- ish entreaties with earbuds. of bullying. While there are
thy. Burnham's intimate, im- been theatrically, even covered, Kayla lacks both From the start, we feel the dramatic confrontations,
pressive directorial debut combatively brash. His rise an audience and friends. unreasonable pressure put "Eighth Grade" is subtler
is armed not just with an was propelled by the tech- Only one of those matters. on Kayla by blissful Insta- and its focus more inward.
understanding for the awk- nology he's now turning on. Kayla tries, unconvincingly, gram accounts and savvier There's the cool girl Kenne-
wardness of youth but with Like Burnham did as a to project a confident ver- Twitter feeds. She spends dy (Catherine Oliviere) and
an anger at what social teenager, Kayla hosts a sion of herself online while much of her days and an intimidating group of
struggling through lonely nights anxiously scrolling older kids, some nice, some
days at school. On You- down screens, fueling her not. q

Swinging '60s styles up for auction

from Sharon Tate estate

ing '60s social scene. She
was murdered in Los Ange-
les by the notorious Charles
Manson cult in 1969.
Los Angeles-based Julien's
Auctions said Wednes-
day the sale is set to begin
Nov. 17. The auction house
would not reveal the name
of the seller, and it's not
clear who now owns the
items.
A silk mini-wedding dress
that Tate wore for her mar-
riage to director Roman
Polanski could draw up
to $50,000, according to
This photo shows two floral canvas and leather bags owned by auction-house estimates.
the late actress Sharon Tate which will be auctioned November A two-toned mini-dress
17 in Los Angeles by Julien’s Auctions. that Tate wore to the 1968
Associated Press
Cannes Film Festival is ex-
Associated Press ron Tate are going up for pected to fetch up to
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mini- auction. $7,000.
dresses and a wedding Tate starred in the 1967 film The collection also in-
dress are among the items "Valley of the Dolls" and cludes "ST" monogrammed
from estate of actress Sha- was the toast of the swing- luggage.q