![]() ![]() ![]() Stepsiblings Sam and Patrick answer Charlie’s internal cry for help when they meet him at a football game. The pianos anchoring the song are deliberate and just as blue as the lyrical content. Lead singer Morrissey’s coos of, “Sing me to sleep / Sing me to sleep / I’m tired and I / I want to go to bed” also overlay scenes of Charlie taking medication for his depression, navigating a bustling cafeteria, and eating his lunch in solitude. Drowning in desperation, the freshman reads alone in his dimly lit room, listening to The Smiths’ “Asleep,” a dark lullaby that sums up his own melancholy and becomes his favorite song. The singer comes to a revelation in the melodious bridge, which holds words of wisdom that are integral not only to Charlie’s story, but to several of the other characters’ in the film: “You can’t love nothing, you can’t love anything / ‘Til you can love yourself.”Īnd so Charlie’s progression to self-acceptance begins, but it’s rocky at first he’s made no friends yet. Timid, clumsy-sounding acoustic guitars open up The Samples’ “Could It Be Another Change,” a jamband-type song that plays over shots of the famous Fort Pitt Tunnel and fades into an echo as Charlie pens his first of many letters to an unidentified friend, the one someone told him “would listen and understand.” The Samples lead singer Sean Kelly delivers a Dave Matthews-esque croon in the inaugural verse as he sings, “The only time I feel good falling / Is when I’m falling fast and hard for you.” Along with heartwarming lyrics that detail caring for another person, the understated, reggae-influenced instrumentation - with plucky guitar, keyboards, and organic drum beats - embodies the quiet and unassuming Charlie’s deep desire for companionship. Coping with the loss of his best friend Michael, who died by suicide, as well as his own depression and loneliness, he sees no romanticism in the halls he’ll walk for the so-called ‘best four years of a person’s life.’ The film begins with protagonist Charlie (the wallflower in question) sharing his anxieties about his first day of high school, an experience he has not bought into. The tale, set from 1991-1992, depicts a journey of personal growth scored by ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, songs immaculately tailored for all the ups and downs of adolescence, as well as recovery from trauma. Content warning: This article contains discussions of sexual assault, depression, and suicide.īased on Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 epistolary novel of the same name, the 2012 quintessential coming-of-age film “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” doesn’t lend itself to idealism - at least not at first.
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