Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #99. Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade

Eighth Grade

Fore more than a decade, this spanking brand new entity on the American independent film sphere has been cutting his teeth as a comedian when a pair of his home vids made him into a viral sensation. Despite his geek-like get up, the twenty-something Bo Burnham‘s creative outlets include a melange of music, comedy and stand-up, and most recently, the lanky actor recently shored up in The Big Sick. Truly a man of many talents and perhaps a dark horse talent to bank on.

A bit of a closely guarded film for the A24 Film troops, filming on the formerly titled The Coolest Girl in the World began mid summer in 2017. Soon to be presented at Sundance, Eight Grade looks to be teenagedom hell or bliss — depending on whose vantage point we’re borrowing. Thirteen-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher) endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school—the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year—before she begins high school. It says a lot about the film’s quality that it was included in the U.S Dramatic Comp, and it should be a good indication beyond his toilette humor schtick how versatile Burnham is as a writer. Dental braces, acne and humiliation aside, this could be the next Napoleon Dynamite or Todd Solondz.

Release Date/Prediction: Will be released by A24 at some point in 2018, this was selected for the U.S. Dramatic Comp.