The Perks of Being a Wallflower (12A)
Directed by Stephen Chbosky
Written by Stephen Chbosky (novel & screenplay)
On general release from 3rd October 2012
Reviewed
by
Something strange happens throughout the course of Stephen Chbosky’s
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, his adaptation
of his best-selling novel. There is a darkness brewing beneath the surface,
a continual low pulse that threatens to erupt at any moment. Everything
seems fine, but underneath there are untold depths, daring you to look
a little further, to try and find what’s been staring you in the
face all along. This is the journey that we, as viewers, go on during
the film as momentary interlopers into the formative experiences of Charlie,
the wallflower of the title.
The first two-thirds of the film pass as a well- made, intelligent but
not entirely original coming-of-age comedy drama. The usual tropes of
the American high school settings crop up; the stoner, the pig-headed
jock, the loner, the inspiring teacher and the group of misfits who show
said loner the other side of high-school life. There’s drinking,
drugging, falling in love and getting your feelings trampled all over.
The dialogue is sharp and believable, as are the cast of young stars,
including a much-hyped, non-Hogwarts role for Emma Watson, and an entirely
sympathetic and gentle Logan Lerman. Lerman brings our wallflower Charlie
to life with a subtlety and maturity that belie his 20 years. Both help
form a convincing and authentic ensemble.
However, the show belongs to Ezra Miller as the vital, charming and beautiful
Patrick. Miller plays it so perfectly with a balance of curt knowingness
and sharp tongued-ness. Yet he is hopelessly and optimistically still
a teenager, embracing life so fully and at times utterly heartbreakingly.
Such is his presence that it is often hard to watch anyone else when he
is on screen.
It is into the final third of the film that things become much less conventional,
and Charlie’s world begins to turn in on itself. Throughout the
film we are afforded tiny snippets of Charlie’s childhood which
increase and intensify toward the final third. They erupt through the
surface and we are left to face the full severity of Charlie’s childhood
trauma.
Chbosky delivers a twist so thunderous and heartbreaking it is hard not
to be moved. He addresses issues of immense seriousness unflinchingly,
yet respectfully, and dares to dig a lot deeper than most conventional
teen movies. It seems almost as if the familiarity of the first two-thirds
of the film were intended to lull you into thinking you were watching
an impressive but familiar film. The final crescendo makes any charge
of generic elements aimed at it entirely forgivable.
The razor sharp writing establishes Chbosky as a distinctive cinematic
voice, able to make the transition from page to screen seem almost effortless.
His young cast have the perfect springboard to showcase their talents,
particularly Miller, surely the breakout star of the event. The
Perks of Being a Wallflower stands to become one of the most memorable
and affecting films of a generation; I don’t doubt that it will
stay with you as it has stayed with me.
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