Lucky enough to be given a free screening pass for one my most antici…pated movies of the entire year, I went and saw RENT last night. And here’s what I thought:
RENT opens in silence, but then, when you hear the first few notes of “Seasons of Love”, it strikes you hard; for you realize you are about to experience something different. Either different because you have never heard this song before; or different, because this is not the way RENT is supposed to open. It becomes apparent very quickly that Chris Columbus has changed some things; moved songs, removed songs, reworked story boards, and refocused characters. But don’t worry; overall it works.
Every song, every scene, you will feel even closer to the musical that so many have loved since its debut on Broadway, almost ten years ago. While some of you will scoff at the changes, and may see them as a detriment to the overall feeling the musical was meant to portray (the bohemian spirit of living for the day, and the undying sense of true love), fear not, because the spirit of RENT is whole and intact. While watching the movie, my overwhelming sense was the creation of a third dimension; to both the characters and the scenes, either of which may have been somewhat two dimensional in the stage version. The movie provides a visual landscape, that contextualizes many story elements that, while present on the stage, were limited by the nature of stage presentation. Overall, I felt the movie went deeper, and with that, it succeeded. It brought me back to the early nineties, and gives the viewer the effect of opening a time capsule, where they find grunge, poverty, spirit, and youth tucked inside. The movie stays true to the original intentions of the play, and establishes the feeling of the early nineties wonderfully; it even feels like this movie was made in the early nineties.
As for the songs, every song was re-recorded with the new cast, many of which were original cast members. I think that this is one of the strongest points of this movie, mainly because it takes something that was crafted so long ago, and updates it; both for the inclusion of new cast members, as well as to provide a grittier sound for the movie. The new versions of the songs fit the movie better, because they are more raw, and portray the new dimensions of these characters more effectively. I will admit that the differences are very noticeable at times, but after you begin to immerse yourself in the movie, the part of you that liked that show will tell the part of you that is overanalyzing every change to stop.
With that being said, many of the transitional and anecdotal “songs” are completely removed, or simply presented as spoken text, which unfortunately leads to an undesired effect. Those songs, at least in the play, were used as clever stage transitions, to distract your attention away from prop changes or character shuffles; whereas in the film, they have transplanted those songs into halfhearted attempts at transition, which simply to not translate into the movie medium. The effect, is a choppy feel, where the movie seems to start and stop several times, with the beginning and ending of each major song. As is true with any musical, the songs tell the story, but relying only on the songs to present the story in a movie format is the weakness that shines through in this film. Thankfully, this choppy movement and lack of transition seems to come to a stop somewhere halfway through the film, with the rest of the movie flowing much more smoothly.
Another byproduct of this lack of transition and choppy-ness, takes away the viewer’s sense and awareness of the timeline in the movie. The story follows a group of friends over the period of one year, or 525,600 minutes. The movie, like the play, does fast forward through most of that year, focusing heavily on the beginning and ending of each respective part, but during several moments of the film, you question just which one of those 525,600 minutes you are watching… There is a real evidence that there is any transition taking place, which leads to some confusion as to what is happening and when. Worst of all, the transitions that are used to indicate the passage of that year are inconsistent. There are times when you can’t tell what time of year they are in, or if you have somehow missed something, and they are actually a month or more in the past. Thankfully, this is minimal, but is definitely a major flaw.
Given its weaknesses, the performances, in both song, and acting, are brilliant. The undeniable stand out performance in this film is Jesse L. Martin, a.k.a., Tom Collins. His presence is captivating, and his singing ability as obviously strengthened with age (Martin was in the original Broadway cast). One of the most memorable performances, is during Angel’s funeral, where Martin reprises the love song they shared; “I’ll Cover You”. It is intense, to say the leas.
The new cast members, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms fall comfortably in with the rest of the crew, and show their acting chops, as the new Mimi and Joanne, respectively. Thoms, in particular stands out, in my favorite scene from the movie, where her and her partner Maureen sing, “Take Me or Leave Me”. I have always loved that song, and the translation to the screen is energetic and wonderful. I walked away singing that song for the rest of the evening.
My final note, is simply to point out the new song that was added; in order to challenge those of you that go see the movie, to find it. It was woven in so perfectly, that it seemed like it was there all along. Taking on something as beloved as RENT was a huge task, and despite some weaknesses, I believe that Columbus reached the peak. I feel like those that see the movie will undoubtedly compare it to the musical, but will probably be surprised that, in spite of its slight differences, it still holds the heart of everything Larson was trying to portray in RENT; suffering, longing, emotion, love, togetherness, friendship, and most importantly, living for the day. I give RENT five out of six stars, because this movie proves that there is definitely ‘no day but today’.
RENT favorites:
I’ll Cover You (all versions)
Take Me or Leave Me
La Vie Boheme
Seasons Of Love
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