“Eighth Grade” is so grounded in the reality of middle school it almost operates like a horrible collective flashback… 8th graders still have one foot in the sandbox. They are still children, but with bodies exploding into young adulthood, creating a miasma of self-loathing, hormonal surges, irritability. When the parade of middle schoolers walk in single file into the high school for ‘shadow’ day, the high school kids lining the hallways look like adults in comparison.
— Sheila O’Malley on Eighth Grade (2018)
[photo courtesy A24]