By Caitlin Walsh, News Correspondent

It’s rare when a movie comes along that leaves you in silent reflection with that heart-sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, you’re not nearly as misunderstood as you thought.

Coming-of-age movies about awkward high schoolers trying to find their place, feeling completely alone and matching with other misfits, are nothing new.

But Stephen Chbosky, the author of the 1999 novel, screenplay writer and director of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” has managed to reach audiences in a new way – deeper and more real than possibly ever before.

As the film starts, we can deduce a few things about the main character Charlie, an introverted high school freshman who writes letters to an anonymous “friend” because he seems to have no one else.

It is clear that something has recently happened to Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, which has left him fragile and lonely.

We soon discover that his only friend recently killed himself and that his favorite aunt died in a car accident years before.

However, Charlie encounters two seniors who welcome him with open arms. Eccentric Patrick, played by Ezra Miller, is an openly gay and charismatic young man, who wants nothing more than to make the world laugh.

Kind-hearted Sam, played by Emma Watson, is Patrick’s step-sister, who wants people to forget her former wild child days and to see and love her for who she is.

The pair take Charlie into their group of misfit friends and introduce him to a world where being an outsider is what makes you belong.

The tale at its core is well-versed enough — high school sucks, no one can possibly understand and with the right group of friends, your whole world can turn upside right. The character’s demons eventually come out, and everyone learns that despite those flaws, they can still be loved.

But something about Chbosky’s writing, his profoundly deep understanding of the struggling young adult, touches closer to home.

Charlie’s painfully awkward tendencies aren’t completely foreign — at 15, everyone is unsure of themselves, scared that if anyone caught a glimpse of their mind they’d be instantly ostracized. He makes you ache to hug him. Lerman reminds us all of that terribly lonely feeling on the first day of high school, searching around the lunch room for just one familiar, friendly face.

Patrick’s wild antics would have us believe in an invincible confidence, an enviable presence in the world. Whatever is on his mind will be said, and with flare — but under those loud layers is a boy struggling with his sexuality with a strong desire to be loved.

And then comes Sam, perhaps the most relatable of all, coming to the end of a huge chapter in her life and craving nothing more than the clean slate of college.

Watson does a beautiful job portraying the young girl whose past is riddled with mistakes and pain. Sam has learned from it, and is trying tirelessly to prove herself to the world as a smart, classy young woman who is capable of so much more — something everyone grapples with at some point or another.

One other notable performance is Paul Rudd’s down-to-earth Mr. Anderson, Charlie’s English teacher and first real friend in high school. Stepping outside his usual boy-humor roles, Rudd takes it upon himself to protect Charlie and honestly portrays a father figure.

The soundtrack is impeccable, featuring some rock bands appropriate to the mood and setting — Nick Drake, David Bowie, The Smiths, to name a few. The songs themselves play a vital role in the bond between the friends.

Overall, this book to movie adaptation is honest, moving and the kind of story that reminds us all what life really means.