Eighth Grade

A teenage girl (Elsie Fisher) faces her last week of middle school. It’s as simple as that, but writer-director Bo Burnham, making his first feature, never puts a foot wrong. His script has the sublime, often excruciating ring of truth, and he draws spot-on performances all around (for once, all these teenagers actually look like they’re under 25). Elsie Fisher is an absolute revelation, playing a sweet, sensitive girl who makes friendly, upbeat online videos (which we sense nobody ever watches), then slouches through real life wishing someone would be her friend. She’s nothing less than brilliant, and you read it here first: She’d damn well better get an Oscar nomination for it. Right behind her (in every sense), and almost as good, is Josh Hamilton as her loving, supportive, but often clueless father.