The Good:
A more uncensored version of the coming of age story. There are no poignant flashbacks of a better time for Elliott. Inept parents are ignorant of their misguided children running amok in their Australian beachside suburb. As the younger children constantly cast themselves into new dangers making stunt films, and the older children experiment with sex the adults cling with every ounce of their energies to their own misspent youths. This film presents an interesting, but altogether tragic vignette of 20th century history wherein assumptions about nature vs. nurture left cases of depression and other mental health disorders among children largely unnoticed.
The Bad: Narrative elements are awkward and fit together about as seamlessly as the clips from Jeffrey's Super 8 "stunt films." Perhaps the disjunction of the narrative style adds to the chaos and banality of real life from moment to moment, but the technique of mirroring real life on screen confuses the real power of this film. Without narrative consistency or comprehensible character arcs any message, intended or otherwise, is lost or muddled at best with nonsensical plot points. As the film draws to a close it's just too difficult to see what it tried to do, because what it did do it did so poorly.
The Ugly: Cohesive narrative. Complex characters with nuance and subtlety. These traits that we hunger for from Swinging Safari are well crafted in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 2012). While I've been critical of Logan Lerman in a previous review, and am unconvinced about his acting ability in general, his performance as the mysterious and confused Charlie is certainly among his best, if not the best. Perks better exhibits the difficulties of childhood, especially when considering trauma and mental illness, because of its adherence to certain dramatic conventions familiar to the majority of audiences.
The Bad: Narrative elements are awkward and fit together about as seamlessly as the clips from Jeffrey's Super 8 "stunt films." Perhaps the disjunction of the narrative style adds to the chaos and banality of real life from moment to moment, but the technique of mirroring real life on screen confuses the real power of this film. Without narrative consistency or comprehensible character arcs any message, intended or otherwise, is lost or muddled at best with nonsensical plot points. As the film draws to a close it's just too difficult to see what it tried to do, because what it did do it did so poorly.
The Ugly: Cohesive narrative. Complex characters with nuance and subtlety. These traits that we hunger for from Swinging Safari are well crafted in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 2012). While I've been critical of Logan Lerman in a previous review, and am unconvinced about his acting ability in general, his performance as the mysterious and confused Charlie is certainly among his best, if not the best. Perks better exhibits the difficulties of childhood, especially when considering trauma and mental illness, because of its adherence to certain dramatic conventions familiar to the majority of audiences.