Saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a nice little coming of age film about a boy who is just starting high school. He has no friends and his high school is played up as one of those movie-places where letterman-jacket-clad jocks are always hazing the freshmen. His life begins looking up when he meets a to-cool-to-be-popular brother and sister who introduce him to cool music and Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The film reminded me of Silver Linings Playbook in as much as it's a fairly fluffy film which is not afraid to delve into some darker psychological waters. In particular, there's a freakout sequence near the end of the film which I adored. The film leading up to that point is fairly standard attractive teen melodrama (which I greatly enjoyed since I have a fondness for melodrama) but the ending tips into sublime psychodrama (which is the drama that I like best of all!)
The film is very slickly shot but with some elements of subtle story-telling. We get the sense that something is wrong with the main character, that he has some troubled past, but we don't get to know exactly what's eating him until far into the film. But he drops little clues here and there that presage the ending and help explain why he's such a non-entity in most of the film.
I liked the film alright. It felt like a slightly updated John Huges film, with sweetness and sincerity that feels a hair manufactured, but which is nonetheless. Unlike John Huges however, this film is shot in a more modern, cozy way, with handheld cameras lending an air of intimacy and close-up shots galore. It's not the most trenchant film, but as teen fare goes, you could do worse.
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