Bo Burnham

Bo Burnham gives an awkward pause time to become uncomfortable. In Eighth Grade (2018), Elsie Fisher's Kayla Day talks online about the person she wants to be, then struggles to find that confidence around other people. He takes these small social difficulties seriously without treating them as something she will simply grow out of. We recommend the film warmly, with a reservation about how hard the writing sometimes works to secure our sympathy.

Burnham began posting comic song videos on YouTube in 2006. what. (2013) combined music with comedy and played with audience expectations; Make Happy (2016) turned further towards examining the performer himself. Eighth Grade was his feature debut as writer and director, but the concern with being watched was already there. Giving those worries to Kayla lets him look beyond his own act.

The important collaborator here is Fisher, whose hesitations make Burnham's writing sound like speech being worked out on the spot. We felt painfully self-conscious watching Kayla's videos, because Fisher makes us hear the strain of trying to seem casual. Burnham leaves her words untidy and lets the humour come from recognition rather than a wish to see her fail. There are scenes, though, where his affection becomes too insistent and the writing seems determined to establish that she deserves kindness. By then we know, and another reassurance only makes the scene less sharp.

His work directing specials for Jerrod Carmichael and Chris Rock also fits his stated interest in serving the performer. Inside (2021), which he made alone during the pandemic, brings that attention back to himself through music, sketches and an examination of performance. The practical ingenuity matters, but Eighth Grade remains our clearest reason to value him as a director. He can allow someone else to be uncertain on screen without treating uncertainty as a character defect. Start there, and forgive the occasional nudge towards a sympathy Fisher has already earned.