by David Upton
Congratulations are due: Logan Lerman’s endearing baby face has lasted to his twenty-fifth birthday! It's not that unusual for actors to play teenagers even into their thirties, but Lerman seems especially stuck in transition, repeatedly playing similar tunes of young men who are particularly prey to societal pressures. Last year’s Indignation threw him back in time, with his personal dramas set against an Ohioan college in 1951, but it was his previous college adventure that has proven Lerman’s career high to date...
Multiplex audiences might have recognised him from a misbegotten adaptation of The Three Musketeers or the teen-lit blockbuster Percy Jackson and something-I’lllookituplater, but it was his role in The Perks of Being a Wallflower that saw Lerman break out into wider cultural consciousness. Stephen Chbosky's film remains an unusually deft and intuitive insight into the bridge between adolescence and adulthood, and, as the title suggests, the particular difficulties (and perks) of being a person who generally fades into the background.
Lerman is perfectly cast here, with a face that seems shy by its very design, his flat nose and sharp chin working to make his head as unobtrusive as possible, especially under the shaggy hair he sports. He's handsome but not imposingly masculine; cute rather than buff. His youthful face is almost generically attractive, but there's a soulfulness in his eyes that cuts through this to create wells of emotion for an audience to sympathise with. Perks takes full advantage of this, accompanying his reticent Charlie with an effervescent Emma Watson and a wild (yet somehow never more relaxed) Ezra Miller, who give the film its vitality and complement Lerman's cautious engagement with their flamboyance.
As someone who was similarly introverted as a teenager (though not nearly as attractive; thanks, Hollywood), Charlie is a highly relatable character, and Lerman's perceptive performance shows a clear understanding of a life learned in the shadows. His body perfectly reflects the awkwardness of being around other people, and his face perfectly communicates the immense and almost overwhelming value that swells inside at the unexpected but honest attentions of another person. Charlie's journey throughout the film encounters sorrows of his past, but most importantly presents progression and hope for his future.
Lerman certainly gave one of the finest performances of that year (he'd be on my ballot for Best Actor 2012) and it will only take the right role for him to bring us something of similar majesty in the second half of his twenties. (But perhaps you have a different favourite role from Lerman’s filmography? And what would you like to see him do next?)
Related post: Lerman's 2012 Film Experience interview