The “Wallflower” on the Big Screen

“…And in that moment, I swear, we were infinite.”

When I knew that Stephen Chbosky’s moving and illustrious novel will have a movie adaptation, I was real skeptic about it. With the overly mainstream use of infamous books as a direction for Hollywood films this generation, and being an aficionado of the book itself, I hoped that The Perks of Being a Wallflower will be done justice. Or else, I’ll be shouting, “No, damn you, Hollywood. Is nothing sacred to you?,” like Ezra Miller did in his Jimmy Kimmel Live! guesting.

After watching the movie though, my wish was granted, sort of. Perks as a movie did not fully lived up to its original published form, but it was still able to leave its audience with a tug at the heartstrings.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells about Charlie (played by Logan Lerman), who enters his first year of high school while coping with the suicide of his only friend in middle school, Michael and is pretty much trying to “participate” with the rest of the world. He also writes to his “friend,” an unknown persona whom he describes as nice though they’ve never actually met. However, high school isn’t so kind to him. If not neglected, he gets bullied. Luckily, Charlie befriends his English teacher, Bill, who believes in Charlie’s talent in writing. Charlie also makes a friend out of seniors, Patrick (Ezra Miller), who he approaches first in a football game which is his attempt to overcome shyness, and Sam (Emma Watson), Patrick’s step-sister who becomes Charlie’s love interest. Both are free spirits who do all kinds of silly and cool high-school things who helped Charlie get out of his shell and eventually became Charlie’s best friends.

During the school year, Charlie experienced all sorts of things with his new found set of friends and fellow “misfit toys.” He got his highs and booze from trying out drugs and alcohol, created mix tapes with wistful songs (always with the song “Asleep” by The Smiths, his favorite), experienced his first kiss, first love and first overbearing girlfriend, and felt how depressing it is to lose your friends and how heartening it is to get them back.

Being an introspective person, Charlie helps the viewers get through the film with letting out what’s on his mind – visions of his past mainly about his much-loved Aunt Helen and his present experiences. These visions serve as conundrums at first but they actually tie up the narrative of the film as it reaches the climax. A revelation transpires and the last parts of the film will give all the feels, enough for the audience to sympathize, get better and feel infinite with Charlie as he reads his last letter to his “friend,” and as he feels alive, standing on the bed of a truck, spreading his arms, with Sam and Patrick while driving fast through Pittsburgh's Fort Pitt tunnel.

As I said earlier, it did not fully live up to its readers’ expectation. It isn’t quite iconic compared to the novel. However, it’s still kudos to the cast and crew of Perks. There were different cinematic elements utilized in the film, but this was actually to the motion picture’s benefit. There’s still an imprint of nostalgia and sentimentality. As for Chbosky, being the writer and director of the movie adaptation, he actually did a good job in altering some events in his own book.

Logan Lerman was a gem as Charlie. He captivated the viewers with a rather superb personification of everyone’s favored wallflower. Watson, on the other hand, proves she can stand her own as an impressive thespian able to morph into a different character other than being a prime student in Hogwarts. Last but definitely not the least, Miller as the effervescent Patrick excelled in representing the bold and eclectic, yet also a little broken teenager of today.

Moreover, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, both the film and novel speaks of the resurgence or the reflection of the intense and every so often eclectic sentiments of adolescence, so easily forgotten by adults and so dearly felt by the youth at present. It’s an insight to teenage life, a medium that conveys that everyone is a wallflower in their own ways; that whether we may or may not care about the world, everyone has their fair share of troubles and pain, but it’s just a matter of time, a proper motivation to be better, love from everyone around and a little help from friends until we feel infinite once again.