A beautiful construction about the feelings of growing up, rather than just what happens.

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2014)

I avoided this at the movies as I - a) had not read the book, b) thought from the title it would about high school proms, mean girls and a Cinderella make-over. So here was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, on PayTv. A tale of three people in High School, with the main character, Charlie battling through a long hard back story.There I was at the end of this absorbing, beautiful film in gratitude for the combined talents that brought this to the screen.
Where Stephen Chbosky and his team succeed is the refreshing presumption that not everything has to be explained. Scenes move on quickly, words are spare.The audience has to think its way through - just as the characters need to do in their confusing corridors of life.
Every character cast provides such a solid acting framework, which meant there was never a moment when the film loses its pace. For example, short scene psychiatrists are often portrayed by an anonymous name, stereo sympathy and a low key performance in a white coat. But Joan Cusack's performance leaps out to allow the suffering Charlie onto a hefty key point platform which keeps the film strong. Elegant acting and artistic direction bring us parents who let us imagine their suffering, rather than the usual high drama scenes of wringing hands and sobbing mothers.And Paul Rudd's performance as an English teacher could have fallen straight into an overdrawn caricature. Thankfully, like all the cast, he acts with refined restraint.
This is a sophisticated film with incredible subtlety, that shows not all teenage films have to have shrieking, long haired blondes or dumbed down story-lines. And by using actors who can really act, suspension of disbelief is easy. It also brings home that successful books, which authors have spent time and care in getting right, make the best translation to film when Hollywood doesn't decide to put a 'spin' on them!