Thursday Movie Picks #12: Movies adapted from a Young Adult Novel

Thursday Movie Picks series returns with a new episode. This week, the theme is Movies adapted from a Young Adult Novel, a new hype in the heyday of cinemas. Still hosted Wandering through the Shelves Blog, this series calls upon all fellow bloggers to join this event by visiting the main page here.

Harry Potter started the hype around a decade ago; then other franchises came to flood the screen every year. Some survived but some failed, but let me present three of them that attract me more than the others. Shoot!

01. The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Among all the best YA novel adaptations, this Stephen Chbosky’s adaptation of his novel is always satisfying. Led by strong performances by the three young starlets—Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller—this film beautifully wraps all teenage angst, happiness, spirit, and drama in a whole movie full of colors and excitement. Adolescence can never be this natural!

02. Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood is a good story of lonesome by Haruki Murakami which is translated into an atmospheric, moody film by Anh Hung Tran. The plot has never shown any significance of a YA adaptation; but the core of everything in Norwegian Wood is the coming of age tragedy. I always love that this adaptation captures the beauty of the novel and projects it into some mesmerizing spectacles; with acting from Kenichi Matsuyama and Rinko Kikuchi in disclosing the secret of loneliness.

03. The Spectacular Now

Perhaps, Shailene Woodley’s best performance to date and Miles Teller’s second-best performance are mutually reflected by this adaptation of Tim Tharp’s coming of age novel. The Spectacular Now honestly uncovers troubled American teenagers’ angst in a bleak and palpable way (although, some bleaker truths were kept tightly on the deleted scene) through a sweet, adorable romance that always makes me think of it. The best part of this film is, definitely, the bewitching script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, but what animates it is, obviously, Woodley and Teller’s stellar chemistry.