~~ the following is a piece I did for the 2012-13 school year of "The Ram Pride," Ringgold High School's school newspaper ~~
When trailers for The Perks of Being a Wallflower were playing on television and
before movies at the theater, I had a very distinct impression: This movie is either going to be a whiney,
pretentious pile of crap, or entirely moving and inspirational. Nothing in between, folks.
And now that I've seen the film twice, I can safely say that through the tears
I was looking at one of my absolute favorite movies of all-time. Strikingly
realistic and strongly emotional, The
Perks of Being a Wallflower knocks it out of the park, and is entirely
moving and inspirational.
My chief worry based off of the trailers pertained
to what's probably the most important part of a drama - the characters. The
easiest way to make a teen drama fail is to present characters with problems that
all feels exaggerated and artificial, but that is not apparent at all in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. These
problems are actually interesting and things that would cause a great deal of
stress and conflict in real life. Some of these problems are things that some
of us don't contemplate nearly enough.
This film follows a freshmen in high school named
Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, who is challenged to move on from traumatic
events in his childhood. In the process he interacts with family and new
friends and discovers that they also have problems, and these break him down
more and more throughout the film. One of the two most prominent of these new
friends is Sam, played by Emma Watson, which plays as the love interest of
Charlie but in her own right is challenged by men constantly treating her
poorly. The other is Patrick, which the audience quickly learns is gay, with
the main conflict of being in a relationship with a closeted son to a strictly
homophobic father. There are some other characters with their own struggles and
they're just as realized and interesting, but they're not focused on as much.
The movie displays these issues - childhood trauma,
homophobia, violence, bad ethics in relationships - in a very direct and
powerful way. The movie sent me on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, at
points bringing me to a point of blissful happiness when things are working out
for these kids, and other points bringing me down to absolute sadness. The most
prominent display of this is at the climax and afterwards, when a big twist is
revealed. This twist makes a movie with already quite depressing moments seem
even more depressing, and it's hard not to tear up. But, rest assured, dear
viewer, because in the time after that reveal to the end it progressively works
it way up to what I can certainly say is the most uplifting sequence I've ever
witnessed in a movie.
There are nitpicks I can throw at the movie. Every
now and then there is a line or even a small character that really doesn't
work, either because it's just lame and unrealistic or something that should be
challenged but isn't. The first character that Charlie interacts with in the
movie is a stock bully that appears a few times throughout the movie, and she's
very lame. (She does serve as effective symbolism by the end, however). The age
difference between these kids in regard to romance is another specific example
of something I think should have been challenged in the movie. But again, these
are just little annoyances that don't drastically affect the oomph of the film
as a whole.
The
Perks of Being a Wallflower is the best movie that came out
last year, and it's one of my absolute favorites of all-time. It's just so strikingly
real, and powerful.
