Stephen Chbosky initially granted John Hughes the writes to his book. Mr. Hughes never completed his version of the screenplay and years later Chbosky was asked to write his version of the story for the screen. The writer/director's fingerprints are engrained in the film. It is the story that sprang to life through him and onto the page and he brings it to life through the vibrancy of this film. Most notably, Chbosky uses a color palette in the film that is very realistic with heavy darkness to contrast the warm lighting of the scenes. This creates an environment that the audience can first of all connect to, as in: this is real life, and the use of heavy shadows creates an atmosphere that something is looming over these kids. And this element provides a subtle feeling through the moving that we don't know everything that is going on, and that is the point from life: we don't always really know what is going on with these younger kids. The tragedies they've been through and if they are truly okay.
Music is also a key element to the film that is used to connect the characters to the narrative. Music is a way of expressing yourself, and it allows everyone, including Charlie to connect to his way of expressing himself as he learns from Sam and Patrick to grab on to the unknowns in life and feel them before dismissing them. And, we see this stated clearly in the "Heroes" scene as Sam stands in the bed of the truck as Patrick drives while cranking David Bowies tune, unknown to all three of them. Charlie learns that he can feel "infinite" and Chbosky captures it simply and beautifully through a close up on the young man.
The unknowns of the film come to light when we learn that Charlie has been sexually abused in his past by his Aunt. And, suddenly this looming darkness is out in the open at the end of the film. This coming into the light matters deeply as what was unseen, even by Charlie is brought to to surface, and from here he can heal. By keeping us in the dark on this through most of the movie the director allows us to sway back and forth on our understanding of Charlie, do we side with him, do we not? The point the director makes is simply: we don't know what another human being has gone through to get where they are, and we will never know unless we're willing to walk long enough with them to find out. This is very clear in the director's feature film debut.
