Movie 2016.02.18 - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Read the book, now watched the movie. As usual, I prefer the book over the movie, as it has more content. As the story is being narrated by an introvert through letters to an anonymous friend, I feel the book's the better medium. Nothing wrong with the movie version though. It's a faithful adaptation of the book, given it was written and directed by the author (Stephen Chbosky). A few portions were removed here and there, but that didn't alter the main story much. For readers of the book, like me, the feeling is that Chbosky merely translated the book to the big screen, and left it at that, which is a bit of a letdown. Not sure what I was expecting, but I was hoping for more.

Story is about an introverted loner with mental issues going through his freshman year. He made a few good senior friends who helped him come out of his shell. First high, first girlfriend, first theatre performance, first dance, first kiss from a girl, first kiss from a guy, first breakup. Ended the year with an epiphany of what's the likely cause of his mental problems, so hopefully it's all smooth sailing from then on.

Some choice quotes from the book/movie:

• We accept the love we think we deserve.
• You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand. You're a wallflower.
• But because things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody.
• You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think it counts as love.
• And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.
• So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them.
• Try to be a filter, not a sponge.
• Nobody felt sad as long as we could postpone tomorrow with more nostalgia.
• It's nice to have things to look forward to.
• I don't know the significance of this, but I find it very interesting.
• And I closed my eyes because I wanted to know nothing but her arms.
• And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn't matter.