The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Film Data: 

Title: The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Director:  Stephen Chbosky

Writer: Stephen Chbosky

Date of Release: October 12, 2012

Genre: Drama/Romance

Budget: $13,000,000

Opening Weekend: $228,359

Gross: $17,738,570

Run Time: 102 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Production Company: Summit Entertainment

Synopsis:

            The movie starts out with Charlie (Logan Lerman) type writing a letter to an anonymous person, which in this case, happens to be the viewer of the movie.

  He’s just started high school and does not quite fit in. However, he does have an immediate connection with Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd) his English teacher and throughout the school year, Mr. Anderson gives Charlie different novels to read.

            Charlie goes to a school football game and becomes friend with two senior’s Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Patrick’s stepsister, Sam (Emma Watson). From the get go he finds Sam attractive, but she has a boyfriend. When he arrives home, He sees his sister’s, Candace (Nina Dobrev) boyfriend abusing her which is something Charlie doesn’t like because his Aunt Helen (not alive in the movie, played by Melanie Lynskey) was also abused.  Charlie goes to his homecoming dance with Patrick and Sam and then they go to a party afterward and has a pot brownie, he confesses that one Michael, his best friend, killed himself, leaving Charlie with no one to confide in. He goes upstairs and finds Patrick kissing Brad (Johnny Simmons) from the football team, Patrick begs him not to tell anyone because no one knows that Brad is gay. They drive through a tunnel on the way home in the back of the pickup truck and Sam crawls out the window whilst listening to a mystery song on the radio.

            Charlie tutors Sam and Patrick so they can pass their SAT’S . Fast-forward to Christmas, Sam gets Charlie a typewriter and tells Charlie that his first kiss should be from someone who loves him so she kisses him. His birthday is on Christmas eve and it’s also the anniversary of his Aunt’s death (she died in a car accident) he does drugs and passes out on the snow after having flashbacks of the day his aunt died. He starts dating this girl but the relationship is over when he kissed Sam in a game of truth or dare. Sam and Patrick stop talking to him after that but they all soon become friends again.

            Patrick and Sam get ready to leave for college and Charlie kisses Sam.

When they leave, Charlie returns home and has more flashbacks of his aunt abusing him. Charlie calls Candance manic and she calls the police to go to their house. He tries to take his own life but luckily survives the suicide attempt.

          
Sam and Patrick come back and take Charlie to his favorite restaurant and at the end of the movie they take him through the tunnel once more with the mystery song playing.

Comments

            This is a coming of age and finding your place film. To begin with, I love the parallel between the first tunnel scene, in which Charlie is still discovering himself and doesn’t know they truth about his aunt and the last tunnel scene in which Charlie knows exactly who he is and has finally found a place where he belongs with his two friends. The flashbacks are beautifully done, very varying angles of the camera and sharp shots throughout the film in order to portray what the character is feeling. The narrative over Charlie’s voice while he is typewriting to the viewer throughout the movie helps the viewer engage with the characters in the movie in a seamless way. Also, I usually hate it when movies are based off of books, but this one is different, there is nothing left out that is crucial to the plot from the book. There are very dark shots with subtle lighting in order to help with the overall mood in the film according to each scene. Very well made film, definitely recommend.

Citations: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659337/>.