“The Perks of Being A Wild Flower” can be summed up as a
coming of age story. It deals with the ever so pivotal experience of high
school, and all the ups and downs that come along with it. It centers on a
group of students, at different stages of their high school careers (one is a
freshman, the other four are seniors), trying to navigate their lives, having
to deal with various obstacles. The movie may sound standard and may be in some
ways, but the writer/director Stephen Chbosky captures the experience of high
school in such a delicate, patient, bittersweet and genuine way. Everybody--current
high schoolers and adults-- can find a way to connect to it.
The story is incredibly rich and multilayered, and the
characters are some of the deepest most well rounded characters I have seen in
a movie this whole year. The picture also evokes a sense of nostalgia. A time
when people bought records and made mix tapes for one another, a time when RC
Cola was drunk, a time before social networking sites like Facebook and
Twitter. It’s this specific period texture that gives “Perks” a refreshing feel
and Andrew Dunn’s warm and glowing cinematography gives the film a distinctive,
old fashioned glamour look.
The main character is Charlie (a spot on Logan Lerman) an ideal
hero for a coming of age story about high school. He’s intelligent but also
socially awkward. He doesn’t fit in with the other freshman, and his older
sister is a senior, therefore she doesn’t want to be seen with him at school.
So he spends his lunch hour sitting alone, reading a book, looking for someone
who might notice him. At home his parents, played by Dylan McDermott and Kate
Walsh, are nice and supportive but also distant and oblivious to Charlie’s
issues.
Things start to get better when he bonds with his English
teacher Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd) who recognizes how smart he is, and he gives
him extra books to read outside of the class. He also befriends two lively and
intelligent seniors: Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) who Charlie
begins to fall in love with. In the movie, you can tell that Watson is trying
hard to shake off her Herimone Granger character (she sports an American accent
and enters the movie wearing a letterman’s jacket). She’s sweet and compassionate
but has a wild, rambunctiousness to her as well. You’ll forget all about Herimone.
The five teenagers--there are also two other girls, a punk
Buddhist and a Goth-- embark on a number of wacky adolescent adventures that
should make anyone remember high school fondly. Going to football games on
Friday nights, going to lame Homecoming dances, followed by after-parties,
where you get stoned on weed brownies. Playing Secret Santa, reenacting “The
Rocky Horror Picture Show,” as it plays in a movie theater, and simply just
driving around listening to and discussing music. All of these upbeat episodes
are given such a personal touch, while watching it I felt alive and enthralled.
They feel completely natural; the actors look like they’re really living these
fun moments.
But then there are the down moments; it wouldn’t be high
school without them. Just about all of the characters have some sort of
baggage. Charlie is social outcast but we also find out that his best friend
shot himself the summer after middle school and later on we discover something
more horrifying about his past. We find out that Sam had a reputation for being
a slut when she was a freshman, and even though she’s a lot more confident
today, she still makes bad decisions when it comes to boyfriends. And Patrick,
despite his happy go lucky attitude, is secretly gay and secretly dating the
captain of the football team.
Cracks also start to form in their friendship. Charlie is
smart and mature but he’s also young and naïve. He’s only known these people
for a few months whereas Sam, Patrick and the others have known each other
since they were in kindergarten. On accident, Charlie rattles some feathers one
night during a game of Truth or Dare.
Despite all of this,
and more, the film never descends into soap opera. Instead, Chbosky handles it
with care and grace. He doesn’t hit you over the head with it, Michael Brook’s
score doesn’t swell up, and Dunn doesn’t use any special camera tricks or
effects in an attempt to amp up the drama and emotion. In other words “Perks”
doesn’t try overly hard to be melodramatic. It comes naturally. More depth is
added to the characters, more layers to the story are pealed back effortlessly.
And the humorous moments are still around; in fact the
serious/emotional instants make you appreciate the humorous stuff even more,
you understand the characters on an even deeper scale. These kids have major
issues they’re trying to sort out, and so these fun, giddy episodes that they
partake in are ways for them to heal themselves, take their minds off of their
problems for a little while. Everything is better with companions, after all.
Patrick is particularly interesting case. For most of the
movie he seems lively and enthusiastic about life. He and Charlie first meet in
Freshman woodshop when Patrick imitates the teacher to make the freshman more
comfortable. He’s cocky and arrogant, always has an answer. All the while—deep
down—he is suffering. Miller—who was in “We Need to Talk About Kevin”—gives a
memorizing performance, one containing both internalized and explosive power.
I think the main reason why “Perks” works so well is not the
cinematography or the music or the acting -- although those things contribute
quite a bit – but because of Chbosky. Chbosky wrote the original semi
autobiographical novel of the same name, and he wrote the screenplay and
directed it. He knows this material better than anyone. He knows these
characters inside and out; they’re a part of him. Therefore he knows how to
best execute the story to the very best ability.
If someone else had directed or written the screenplay the
film might have been good but it wouldn’t be nearly as intimate and deep.
Everything in “Perks” clicks, which is a rare thing to say about a movie these
days.
4/4
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