So, I have found my new favorite movie.
I can't say that my life is anything like
Charlie's, the main character's, yet all throughout the movie I felt like I was him. The movie spoke to me, both the screenplay, the acting and the direction did wonderfully.
SPOILERS
The plot is of
Charlie, a freshman in high school, who doesn't have any friends. He ends up with a senior,
Patrick, in shop class and as they become friends,
Patrick presents him to his circle of friends. Here
Charlie meets his first girlfriend, he finds his writer side and his first love. Unfortunately, he has a bit problematic past. His aunt, as we found out, died in a car accident and he blames himself for it. Also, his best friend shot himself before he started high school, and this reopened the unanswered questions and bottled up feelings that he had after the death of his aunt.
Charlie has a form of depression that makes him black out when his adrenaline is high, and losing his friends after their graduation makes him lose it again. In the hospital, he confesses that his aunt molested him sexually before she died - and that is why he felt that he killed her, because perhaps he wished for her to die. It also seems that this is a memory he blacked out on and remembered only after his friends left. But they don't forget him, and come to visit as often as they can, not to mention that his first love,
Sam, turns out to have loved him back.
Now, this is a really sad movie. I actually want to read the book very much, as it is an adaptation, but one of the best kinds at that. The director used
Charlie as a narrator and most importantly, they never forgot about it. From the beginning till end, instead of the usual boring montages to music, they used
Charlie's letters to his deceased friend to tell the story. He tells him about the hospital, about high school, his friends and about a very special literature teacher,
Mr. Anderson, who cares a lot for his writing. He is actually the only friend
Charlie has, before talking to
Patrick.
I need to tell you that the acting was off the hook. Toward the end of the movie,
Charlie -
Logan Lerman got me crying so hard... you know, not the sexy cry, when you have tears in your eyes, but the sobbing, everything dripping from your face crying - the kind that is simply disgusting. The moment you realize what this kid has been through, and living with this secret all of his life, and the blackouts and losing his friends - you just want to hug him. From beginning till end, you just want to hug him and tell him that he is not alone. And if you ever felt alone in your life, then you'll know exactly how much he needs it.
Another thing that makes it horrible, it that you can see that he has a nice family, a healthy relationship with his parents and siblings. He is smart, considerate and caring. It makes is extra sad to see that he is so alone. And the love story? We all know that special feeling we get when we can create a smile on our loved one's face, let it be because of a present we bought or just by showing them that they can always trust us.
Charlie is just the same way, and you end up thinking '
I'll love you! Please don't be sad!'.
To sum it up: everything he does is perfect. From the behavior in literature class, all the way to punching out two idiots when they hurt his friend. Another point goes to
Emma Watson, who personally for me was far more convincing as an American high school student, rather than a British wizard. But here direction plays a really big role. For example
Lerman was the weakest link in
The Three Musketeers (click
here to read my review!), but I can clearly see that he is a great actor. It is beyond me why directors told
Watson to play
Hermione as an over the top little bitch, when clearly she can make you fall in love with her even when she is whispering.
Their relationship was a bit weird, as she basically threw herself at him and was then shocked that he ended up falling in love with her... But other than that I have no complaints story-wise. My favorite thing was the natural reactions. Movies tend to be different from real life, and we expect a sort of behavior from movies - this is sometimes a problem. This movie shows real reactions: An example would be when
Charlie told
Sam that his best friend shot himself. She just stands there, helpless, with her mouth open. From that point on she looks over him, a bit worried, incapable of pretending like nothing happened. That is how a normal person reacts! In any other movie, she would've felt weird for three seconds, shown some sort of weird embarrassment and then got over it. Emphasizing the fact that she doesn't want him to feel weird after telling him. This movie doesn't have 'only-movie-like-reactions' and that is great.
Now, I told you plenty to make you want to see it. I feel a bit bad, because the plot point about the aunt is only revealed in the last 15 minutes, which makes the impact even bigger, seeing that not many references where made to it. We know he loved his aunt, and that he resembled both
Sam and his sister
Candace. It is only when his memory comes back that he realizes what really happened. From the point of the movie, you know something is missing, but it doesn't bother the rest of the story, however, when you get it, you're like '
Oh, my God.' and it all makes sense.
This is definitely not a date movie. This is a 'sweatpants, tissues and popcorn' movie to enjoy alone, or with a couple of girlfriends. It is a great movie so please try to see it if you can, but make sure to have a comedy in stock afterwards, because if it gets you even just a little bit, you'll be crying for at least a week!
Something more uplifting coming up, I promise!
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