2. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Nominations deserved: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor - Logan Lerman, Best Picture Perks is the best and most timely film about high school made since The Breakfast Club. Adapted from his own novel of the same name, Stephen Chbosky directed the film about an introvert freshman (Logan Lerman) who is taken under the wings of two seniors (Emma Watson and Ezra Miller) who welcome him to the real world. The film is a delicate and heartfelt examination of just how intimidating high school can be for some people. I have been out of high school for about 8 years now but I can still remember how overwhelming and horrifying it was to walk into high school on that first day. Chbosky and his extremely talented young cast captured these emotions brilliantly and should NOT have been so overlooked. What makes the film work so well is that it never veers into the unrealistic and keeps its characters at the center of it all by putting them in situations that have will have real, legitimate consequences in their lives. We are not only watching, we are feeling what these young adults are going through, and might even be reliving what it was like to be in high school; I know I certainly was.