Ok, it got mediocre reviews from the professional critics. But check out the reviews of fans of RENT. A+ all the way around. I've seen it twice already and have some observations:
First, the Minneapolis Star Tribune movie critic needs to quit watching movies and take a look around: he seems to think that poverty, AIDS, and materialism were only problems of the 1990s. While the East Village has perked up and new drugs for HIV have curbed the tragedies of the late 1980s, to say that the movie is "too little, too late" is like saying "Hair" shouldn't have been made a movie because the Hippies were done by 1979 (when the movie came out) or that "Sound of Music" shouldn't have been made a movie because the Nazis weren't in Austria anymore. Newsflash, buddy: people still have AIDs, people still die, people are still poor, and people still sell out.
Second, the emotional climax(es) at the end are just as, or even more, powerful than on stage because they feel more real. It looks like a real hospital, real ice chips, real lesions. I have to say, I cried harder in the movie than in the play. Maybe because at the end of the movie, Angel doesn't come out to bow and dance around.
Third, Jesse Martin deserves an Oscar for his portrayal of Tom Collins. The acting was simply superb, especially since he didn't have dialogue to rely on to portray his pain at the end. It's a lot harder to convey a broken heart while you are singing but his voice together with the emotiveness of his face and body were brilliant. I wish I were a member of the Acadamy.
Finally, yes, there were a few scenes that struggled to translate from the little Broadway stage to the silver screen. The one that comes to mind is Roger up on a mountain in New Mexico/L.A. It looked sort of like a Monster Ballads video combined with a Biblical epic. Also, Maureen and Joanne's engagement party was sort of random. I mean, "Take me or leave me" is a great song, but I think it would have played out better on the streets of New York than in a hotel reception. However, these are minor stylistic points that do not detract from the film as a whole.
I love RENT, I have always loved RENT, and I will always love RENT and I can't wait to see it again.
What did others think?
4 comments:
I saw it last night and liked it a lot. I agree with you that the Maureen/Joann face-off wasn't great in that setting. (Could've been better on the streets, an enclosed stairwell, a park.) "Santa Fe" on the subway was a good from stage to screen choice I thought. (Even though they made the F train orange circle smaller than it is in real life. The movie's not perfect friends.) What bothered me most: the great lengths the special effects people went to in order to make the singers' breathing visible in the cold weather. "I Should Tell You" in the alleyway was hard for me to watch. Watching the smoke emerge from their lips with every slow, drawn out "here goes" made being freezing in NYC look a great deal more magical than it actually is. In the ladies room following the movie, several ladies were discussing this very issue right before pissing all over the toilet seats. But as we learned in health class, and then again in Sarah's blog posting, you can't get AIDS from piss. You are at a great risk, however, if ever featured using "smack" in a musical montage. This all being said, I cried.
Things that bother me the most about Rent (which I love and know by heart) are not unique to the film--although by nature musical movies are problematic and in order to enjoy them you have to get past the fact that they are silly. But some of the specifics are confusing. I don't buy the Mimi-Benny thing and while Collins has to introduce Angel to Mark and Roger, we never learn how she already knows Mimi, Maureen and Joanne. I guess the most important thing to get out of the characters' relationships is that they are part of a community that for them is a family. My favorite scenes were both renditions of "I'll Cover You." I cried much more during Angel's funeral than at the end. Another problem with musicals on film is that it's hard to restrain yourself from singing in the theater.
I agree that both versions of "I'll Cover You" are amazing. I think that the second one during the funeral was probably the best few minutes of the whole movie.
One other thing about stage to cinema problems-- I think people are much more willing to suspend reality in live theater. In the movies, we expect time/space continuums to be logical and all character relationships to "make sense." To appreciate RENT, it's important to suspend those expectations and take it for what it is, just like lesbian lovers. After all, if we don't we're the 3-piece suits Mark rides by on his bike. Or something.
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