279. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

279. (18 Nov) The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012, Stephen Chbosky) 66



This bunch of wallflowers are a tad too good-looking to be entirely credible, but there's still heart to spare in Perks. This moving, honest depiction of loneliness and depression is the polar opposite of this year's similarly-themed, but hackneyed Silver Linings Playbook. Logan Lerman's sadsack, yet magnetic performance does the trick while Stephen Chbosky's reverence for his own material also makes his film thoroughly heartfelt, if a tad sentimental. The adults here are too peripheral for this to really encapsulate adolescence. However, it's rare to see a film that comprehends how extreme the hardships of childhood can be. The final ten minutes make this a genuine weepie. Ezra Miller is the other cast standout while Emma Watson's affected American accent does her no favors.

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

Written and Directed by Steven Chbosky

Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller

Charlie: I’m both happy and sad and I’m just trying to figure out how to be.

I suppose there isn’t too much trouble of a film not being faithful to the book when the author of said book both writes the screenplay and then directs that screenplay himself. Steven Chbosky’s 1999 novel, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, was instantly adored by young adults everywhere but yet still took more than ten years to find its way to the big screen. The wait was worth it though as Chbosky has had all that time to sit with these characters and this story. He steps behind the camera for the first time in his career and he does so with the material he knows better than anything else in the world.  His familiarity paves the way for both our comfort and our ultimate enjoyment but it also doesn’t bring much of anything new either.

At the center of THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER is Charlie, played by relative unknown, Logan Lerman. Well, given that Charlie is the wallflower himself, he’s actually not so much at the center as he is off to the side, watching and learning. We don’t know much about Charlie when we first meet him, other than he is starting high school and his best friend committed suicide earlier in the year. Charlie is extremely shy but determined to integrate in fear of returning to the depression he felt after he lost his friend. The most introverted person in school then meets Sam and Patrick, (Emma Watson and Ezra Miller), step-sibling, high school seniors, who happen to be two of the most extroverted people in school. They are fast friends, as is clear from their effortless chemistry with each other, and Charlie is catapulted into a world that is more alive than anything he’s ever known. Their adventures are fun to tag along on, and for a while, the film is a firm reminder of the importance of having true friends in your life.

Charlie’s journey is of great import. It is made so by the endearing and engaging performance given by Lerman. It may also be the abundant innocence in his face. Charlie is merely learning about how to date a girl or what happens when you don’t ask what’s in the brownies first, but his face is always dripping with awe and his observations are always inspired and appreciative. It is hard not to be taken in by his charm and constant state of wonder. Once taken in though, it all feels surprisingly agreeable considering Charlie’s haunted past. Chbosky creates a safe environment for all his creations to be free like the social misfits they are, but once they’re done trying their hardest to be different, you realize THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER isn’t all that dissimilar to most coming of age stories you’ve already seen. 

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

Written and Directed by Steven Chbosky

Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller

Charlie: I’m both happy and sad and I’m just trying to figure out how to be.

I suppose there isn’t too much trouble of a film not being faithful to the book when the author of said book both writes the screenplay and then directs that screenplay himself. Steven Chbosky’s 1999 novel, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, was instantly adored by young adults everywhere but yet still took more than ten years to find its way to the big screen. The wait was worth it though as Chbosky has had all that time to sit with these characters and this story. He steps behind the camera for the first time in his career and he does so with the material he knows better than anything else in the world.  His familiarity paves the way for both our comfort and our ultimate enjoyment but it also doesn’t bring much of anything new either.

At the center of THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER is Charlie, played by relative unknown, Logan Lerman. Well, given that Charlie is the wallflower himself, he’s actually not so much at the center as he is off to the side, watching and learning. We don’t know much about Charlie when we first meet him, other than he is starting high school and his best friend committed suicide earlier in the year. Charlie is extremely shy but determined to integrate in fear of returning to the depression he felt after he lost his friend. The most introverted person in school then meets Sam and Patrick, (Emma Watson and Ezra Miller), step-sibling, high school seniors, who happen to be two of the most extroverted people in school. They are fast friends, as is clear from their effortless chemistry with each other, and Charlie is catapulted into a world that is more alive than anything he’s ever known. Their adventures are fun to tag along on, and for a while, the film is a firm reminder of the importance of having true friends in your life.

Charlie’s journey is of great import. It is made so by the endearing and engaging performance given by Lerman. It may also be the abundant innocence in his face. Charlie is merely learning about how to date a girl or what happens when you don’t ask what’s in the brownies first, but his face is always dripping with awe and his observations are always inspired and appreciative. It is hard not to be taken in by his charm and constant state of wonder. Once taken in though, it all feels surprisingly agreeable considering Charlie’s haunted past. Chbosky creates a safe environment for all his creations to be free like the social misfits they are, but once they’re done trying their hardest to be different, you realize THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER isn’t all that dissimilar to most coming of age stories you’ve already seen. 

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Written by Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear
Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Starring Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilley and Ezra Miller


Dr. Foulkes: He’s a floppy little boy, isn’t he? But there’s nothing wrong with him.

I know we’re supposed to talk about him but I have a very hard time talking about WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN. (I meant to write this review three weeks ago and just couldn’t do it until now.) From the moment it opens, with a jubilant Tilda Swinton, dousing herself, the people around her and the entire screen in deep red tomatoes and their juice at the Tomatina festival, in Bunol, Spain, I was consumed by the film. The imagery and the intention were so vibrant and alive, it was almost intoxicating. And then it gets drab and ugly and we are thrown into a world where every trace of Swinton’s former life is absent. All that remains is a run down shack on what is clearly the wrong side of town. The red is still there but now its the painted curse words on the front of her home. How did her life go from one extreme to the other? She had Kevin.

Swinton is mind blowing in Lynne Ramsay’s brilliant adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s popular novel. She plays Eva Katchadourian. Once upon a time she was a successful travel agent who would travel to the most exotic of locations with her happy husband, Franklin (John C. Reilley). Like most people, her life changed when she had a baby. Before long, she and her family were leaving New York City for a quiet place in the suburbs, as they do. Eva struggled though to find happiness in her new life. She never seemed to connect with her son, Kevin (played primarily as an adult on screen by the disturbingly lanky, Ezra Miller), and began to fear there was something wrong with him. It doesn’t take too long though before she starts to suspect that Kevin is just being spiteful and directing some fairly disturbing anger solely at her. It gets so callous she can hardly seem to get the words out at some point. She loves him but she also hates him simultaneously. It’s as if she knows she is obligated to love him but cannot for the life of her figure out how to accomplish this. And for as much direct suggestion the title provides, no one ever seems to talk too much about Kevin, when clearly they should.

Ramsay slowly reveals to us in flashback how Eva fell from grace and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN becomes a modern telling of a familiar horror story. Personally, I find it quite refreshing to see a film about an evil child that isn’t possessed by some spirit or satanic force. Kevin has done something truly horrible but we don’t know what that is, just what it did to Eva’s life and that she never abandoned him despite any of it. The back and forth in time and space, which I loved being lost in, makes it near impossible to situate yourself directly in the narrative for too long at any one time, likely very similar to the blur of Eva’s fractured mind. To piece the puzzle together means having to ask whether or not Kevin’s troubles came from his mother or perhaps whether Kevin is just plain evil. It’s nature vs. nurture but it forces us to acknowledge that if we side with nature, we must not only admit that some apples really are just bad but also remember the trees they fell not too far from.

PS. If you or anyone you know is thinking about having children, you might seriously consider seeing this first (or not).