The Perks of Being a Wallflower

When I first heard my favourite book was being adapted into a movie, my instant reaction, unsurprisingly, was to resent it. Later, when I heard Emma Watson was to be cast in the lead female role, I vowed to hate it even more; how could my plain, flawed, indie-music-loving teenage heroine Sam be truly appreciated by a precocious child-star who says irritating things like ‘I’ve learned to love my curves’ whilst flaunting an enviable wardrobe that the average 10 year old would struggle to squeeze into. ‘Perks…’ was a book I discovered in my early teens, around the time I discovered Morrissey, Ian Curtis and Oscar Wilde (yes, my teenage years were full of delightfully melancholy clichés). I spent 2 weeks of my penultimate family holiday utterly engrossed, and the combination of complete despair, desperate hope and naïve insight into ‘adult’ life expressed in the lead character Charlie’s letters enthralled me. How this book could mean anything to anyone else but me, and how these feeling could be translated onto the big screen by some Hollywood director was beyond my comprehension. However, when I eventually got round to seeing the film I was surprised by three things; 1. that Chbosky himself had written and directed it, 2. Watson isn’t as annoying as I gave her credit for and 3. I loved every second of it.

The optimistic, uplifting scenes exploring the friendship, music and the future between Charlie, Patrick and Sam were every bit as inspiring as when I read them in Secondary School. The ‘gay teenager’ storyline was realistic and un-patronising, and Charlie’s ‘breakdown’ and reveal of his past traumas were heartbreaking without being cheesy. Interestingly, the trailers which popped up regularly on daytime TV show no hint of the storylines relating to depression, child abuse, homophobia or even recreational drugs and sex. Instead, the film seems to be portrayed as a whimsical, light-hearted high-school ‘coming of age’ tale; a ‘The Breakfast Club’ for the ‘500 Days of Summer’ generation, perhaps.  So much so that my housemate, who I went to see the film with, was completely surprised by the plot, which I was slightly envious of, as I’d have loved to see this film without the anticipation caused by my prior attachment to the book. I also loved Paul Rudd’s turn as the English teacher, Mr Anderson, and felt Ezra Miller perfectly captured the Patrick I imagined in my mind. Watson’s performance was the first of hers I’d seen since the Harry Potter films, and I’ll readily eat my words and admit she is more than just a child star with a lucky break. In fact, nearly every character was spot on, and each scene, from the school canteen and the Rocky Horror performances, to the house parties and Charlie’s childhood flashbacks played out almost exactly as it had in my mind’s eye, a credit to Chbosky’s close involvement at seemingly every stage of the film’s production. In to books, I found the focus was more on his friends and family rather than Charlie himself, but I enjoyed seeing the book’s epistolary narrator become a lead character, captured brilliantly by Logan Lerman.

I’ve not read ‘Perks…’ for several years, and feeling these emotions again is somewhat bittersweet. I first read this book long before I began my A Levels, never mind moving to university, and it always led me to believe that by the time I’d got to uni I’d have figured out what I wanted to do, stopped listening to The Smiths every night before bed and found myself a nice sensitive bloke who’d love writing poetry and visiting vegan cafes. While some of these pipedreams may be just that, seeing this film gave me a renewed optimism at a time in my life where I’m starting to feel slightly lost again. Its not often I say this but I thoroughly loved this film, and would definitely recommend  it. The only disappointment was the soundtrack; when music features so prominently in the original novel, I was disappointed that music seemed to take a back seat, mentioned for kitsch value only, rather than the driving force behind Charlie’s, and my own, changing emotions throughout the story.

I saw 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' at The Showroom Cinema in Sheffield, a lovely little cinema that I had the pleasure of working in at Doc/Fest. Fab venue and has its own bar which means you can get pissed whilst watching great independent films, which is always a bonus.