Bo Burnham's leap into the film world is a shockingly understanding coming-of-age story.
Comedian
Bo Burnham took the film world by storm with this debut, an affecting
coming-of-age tale about a shy and lonesome middle school girl named Kayla. After being voted “Most Quiet” by her classmates, Kayla commits herself to being braver, finding a best friend, and getting a boyfriend. Throughout the film we see the trials and tribulations Kayla goes through to make friends - whether it’s being ignored by the popular clique or being manipulated by a high school guy - all while being annoyed by her doting father.
More often than not when comedians take a crack at making films, their stories tend to lean heavily towards autobiographical, with characters based largely - if not entirely - off of themselves, so Burnham penning and directing a heartfelt drama about a teenage girl’s struggle to find self-confidence was not only unexpected in itself, but also in how knowingly empathetic it is.
The subjective storytelling expertly communicates Kayla’s psychology; her experiences feel entirely lived in, her emotions meticulously fleshed-out, as if Burnham himself was exorcising the pubescent demons that still haunt him. He places us so assuredly into the midst of Kayla’s tumultuous inner-life and anxieties that it convincingly verifies that the awkwardness of puberty is a shared universal experience, regardless of gender, time or place (a torch that the Netflix series
Big Mouth has happily carried on). It feels like we are seeing an account of Burnham’s own life after all, or at least his own psychology.
As unexpected as Burnham’s story going on in front of the camera is, his endlessly creative choices behind the camera may have been an even bigger surprise. The filmmaking feels completely fresh and uncompromisingly modern, as Burnham constantly mixes in shots and scenes that are analogous with internet culture. The introduction to the pool party scene is so fascinatingly outrageous, yet so accurate to the mindset of someone with social anxiety, that it’s basically just a really in-depth meme. I have no idea where Burnham is going to go from here, but I am strapped in for the ride.
Comments
Post a Comment