More times than not movies about high
school miss the mark. Whether it's the actors, the stories, or just
the overall feeling of inaccuracy,it just rarely feels authentic.
When I think of "Perks of being a Wallflower" I think
perfection! Everything about this movie is spot on.. The acting,
directing, soundtrack, the story, writing- everything!
Take the best things about the
80s-90's: making mix tapes for people you like, going to dances,
having your first crushes, dealing with insecurities and shyness,
knowing deep secrets about the popular people in school, but then
combine all of the dramatic scenes with very powerful performances,
and you have a film that is absolutely fabulous!
Perks takes place in 1991, and centers
around a group of friends who are in high school in Pittsburgh. All
of them are Seniors except one, Charlie(Logan Lerman), who as an
incoming Freshman is already counting down the days to
graduation(1384). Charlie starts high school with no friends, a
messed up past and struggles with mental illness. He then meets
Patrick(Ezra Miller) and Sam(Emma Stone) a couple of sibling seniors
who befriends and welcomes him into their group of friends. From
there Charlie starts to experience quite a few firsts in his life,
kiss, girlfriend, first high, etc. The acting is superb especially
Emma Watson, who proves she's not just Hermione Granger (I was
impressed) I was also impressed that Stephen Chbosky not only wrote
the novel, but the screenplay as well and even directed the film!
(What a talent).
In terms of high school movies I would
put this right by "Breakfast Club" because “Perks”depicts
the loneliness, anxiety and all-out mess of adolescence so perfectly.
So what is this movie trying to say to
all of us? Charlie said it best when he said “I know we'll all
become somebody-we'll all become old photographs and we'll all become
somebody's mom and dad. Right now these moments are not stories, this
is happening...and in this moment I swear we are infinite.” And it
did happen to us and our parents and it is happening right now to our
children and we all are infinite.
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