We need to talk about Ezra Miller

Ezra Miller’s treatment of Tilda Swinton, his mother in the horrific We Need to Talk About Kevin, was ghastly; in the likeable coming-of-age drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower, however, his high-spirited, charismatic outsider is a good friend to a troubled adolescent. The young man (19) with the striking, mysterious looks turns out to have many strings to his bow.

Just 1,384 days to go. In his first year, Charlie (Logan Lerman) has worked out exactly how many days of high school he still has to survive. A bright kid and a bookworm who listens to the Smiths, he is prepared for the worst. Soon, however, the flamboyant gay Patrick (Ezra Miller) and his equally spirited stepsister Sam (Emma Watson) welcome him into their counterculture-embracing circle of friends. That doesn’t solve all his problems, great or small, but at least he is not alone. The writer Stephen Chbosky filmed his own cult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Powerful performances, attention to detail (the mixtape era!), and genuine sensitivity mean that this teenage film, while imperfect, is above-average.

Let’s start with the most important question.
Ezra Miller: Oy!

Do you like the Smiths?
Miller: [laughs] That’s an important question! At the age of thirteen I listened to Meat Is Murder, at fourteen to The Queen Is Dead. I’m crazy about the Smiths. Two of my friendships in high school were based entirely on a shared appreciation of the Smiths. When, at the age of fourteen, I read Stephen Chbosky’s book, I had the feeling that it was specially written for me.

I didn’t know Chbosky’s book, but apparently it had a huge impact.
Miller: When I was fourteen, every youngster who felt a misfit or an outcast read that book. Over the years its reputation grew even more. For me, the book is a blueprint: it helps you find your way in your adolescent life. It describes in detail different situations that are typical of that age: school culture, youth culture, etc. Within that little microcosm, Chbosky describes just about every character and archetype you could imagine. He explores the many problems young people struggle with in silence, thinking that they are loathsome exceptions, while they are actually perfectly normal problems.

You left school young. Was that because of your role in Afterschool?
Miller: No. Afterschool only played a small part. That was my first film and it reinforced the feeling that I could make acting my career. That was what I was aiming for when I ran away from schools, but it wasn’t the reason why I ran away. I found formal schooling pretty hard to cope with. Self-education, learning by doing things suits me much better.

We don’t see you that often in films, but when you do one it hits the mark. I’m thinking of We Need to Talk About Kevin. Is there a strategy behind that?
Miller: I try to be extremely selective. To put a figure on it: I think that only one in a hundred screenplays interests me. And I pull out if the director and I aren’t on the same wavelength. Film is a magnificent art form. You don’t mess around with that. A film should be a concentrated, precise exertion that brings people together. Nothing beats watching a truly absorbing film that really has something to say. A good film can be the expression of ideas that we could never put into words. I intend to stick to my strategy. Even if that means I don’t get any work for a while and have to earn my living some other way.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower ●●●
US, 2012, dir.: Stephen Chbosky, act.: Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, Emma Watson, 103 min.