4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
No film in 2012 took me off guard quite as forcefully as Steven Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, an emotionally battering experience that strays painfully close to my own high school challenges and recollections. This is absolutely not a typical teenage drama, but a deeply felt, highly personal chronicle of identity and desire, one that abandons the standard, recycled talking points in favor of a serious discussion about the emotional issues that plague young adults. It is agonizingly authentic and remarkably well-observed, layered deep with the rich, nuanced precision of a great novel and channeled through three of the year’s very best performances. Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, and Emma Watson are all sensational, each capturing the raw and fluid nature of adolescence as well as any performers I have ever seen.
Chbosky has made something truly special here, a dynamic and vulnerable piece of filmmaking that understands and validates the complex emotions of modern teenage life. Though Perks, like many of the films on this list, is certainly not for everyone, those it speaks to will be almost unspeakably affected, and I count myself among those who view this as an instant and unforgettable classic.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is currently playing in select theatres nationwide, and will arrive on DVD and Blu-Ray February 12th, 2013.
3. The Grey
Mismarketed as a high-octane action flick upon its entirely inappropriate January release, Joe Carnahan’s The Grey is, in truth, a top-notch survival story about man’s relationship with the unknown, and one of the most insightful, passionate, and uncompromising cinematic efforts of 2012. Set against a tremendously realized ‘man versus wild’ narrative – one brought to life with incredible cinematography, terrifying wolf effects, and precise command of tone, pace, and tension – the film delves deep into concepts of masculinity, death, and faith, presenting a bleak but entirely valid worldview wherein we are, each of us, ultimately alone.
Liam Neeson gives his greatest performance to date as a man defined by a sad and empty existence, and who discovers, over the course of one of the most horrific experiences imaginable, that rallying against the void, with everything he has, may be the only ‘meaning’ one can truly attain. The Grey may not be a pleasant experience, but as a brave, hauntingly beautiful expression of fundamental human doubts and fears, it has few equals.
The Grey is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
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