It's so refreshing to watch a movie where the director and writer - Stephen Chbosky - had faith in his story and in the characters he created. He had so much faith in the story and characters he didn't even bother with insane, over-the-top actions sequences, abrupt changes in tone or pacing purely for dramatic purposes, quirky or gimmicky camera angles or shots, nor did the characters ever once break from the characteristics already established throughout the movie. This movie just told a story, a story about people and made you care about them and in this day and ago where Hollywood is obsessed with big budget movies where action and everything else replaces characterization. It was really refreshing to watch this movie. And in case you haven't figured it out yet, this movie was good and worth your time to see.
There's absolutely nothing complicated about this movie. It's a simple story about a teenager's freshman year in high school and the journey it takes for him to fit in and find friends. That's it, that's the whole story, but Chbosky makes you care about the main character and the friends he finds along the way. Don't get me wrong there are complicated things about this movie, but those complications arise from the honest relationships that arise around these friends, the personalities and interests they have, as any complications would happen. They come about in some real ways that don't, ever, for once feel gimmicky or fake.
Chbosky actually does something in this movie that a lot of writers in Hollywood try to do but fail miserably at, and that's actually use the interests of the characters to actually progress them as individuals. These characters don't just sit around for one scenes and talk about music to show how intelligent the writer of the movie is - as many writers in Hollywood seem to do. They just use one scene to talk about movies, books, or music that they seem to think shows some depth of the characters in the movie. When in actuality if they don't follow up those scenes with the characters talking more about their interests in movies, books, or music - you know like real people do in real like talk about their interests - then the writer totally wastes whatever in depth characterization they are trying to convey. Chbosky uses the music interests of his characters throughout the movie and doesn't just use it as gimmick to show how intelligent he is. He uses it as a true writer uses it and that is to explore his characters, as music is not only their interest, but also an extension of who they are. I thank him all the more for doing it.
To sum up, this is a simple movie with multiple complications abounding, but don't let that scare you, simplicity is the overall blanket tucking this movie to bed. The direction is simple and effective. I still can't believe this is Chbosky's first directed movie, because he did an assured job of communicating the story line without falling into the trap of being gimmicky. He let the story and characters play out like a seasoned director of the old days, of which there are a very short supply directing movies now-a-days. The actors and actresses he's assembled served the story well, as they breathed life in the characters he gave them and really fleshed them out. All in all you need to see this movie because it was that good when. You need to see it just to compare it to the over the top, over budget, action movies that Hollywood seems intent to keep making, and see what a real movie can be that doesn't rely on special effects or over blown action, but instead focuses on storyline and characters. This movie is the exact opposite of those Hollywood movies we get now-a-days and it's all the better for it, as it heralds back to much better day in Hollywood.
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