In Episode 99 of the Crooked Table Podcast, Robert Yaniz Jr. welcomes Jackson Smith of Screen Fever to the show to discuss one of our favorite films of 2018 (no, really), writer/director Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade.

Anchored by an all-too-real performance by Elsie Fisher, the film chronicles the final days in the life of your average middle-school girl. In his debut film, Burnham captures the terror and tragedy of being 13 in a coming-of-age drama like no other (and one that was recently robbed of Academy Award contention). It’s a film full of heart, horror and, ultimately, hope that puts this critical time in one’s life into perspective through the lens of technology and the specific challenges faced by today’s youth.

Naturally, Rob and Jackson’s conversation gets personal, as they reminisce about their own adolescent periods in discussing how Burnham’s film tackles it. While the film tells the story of a teenage girl in 2018, it emerges as one of the most impactful and universally relatable accounts of that awkward stage between childhood and adulthood. Of course, Eighth Grade was a critical darling when it was released, but we make the case for why it will endure far more than most other films of its kind.

Ready to discover why we’re all a bit like Kayla Day? Hit play, and we’ll see you on the other side.

Gucci!