oyceter | Rent (2005 movie)

YAY! I finally got to see my musical! The sad thing was, it hasn't even been out a full month or so, and it's already only in one theater in the area =(.

I have complete, unabashed, totally uncritical adoration of this movie! It is my musical! On large screen! Soon to be preserved in a format that I can rewatch it over and over and over without booking seats and paying $60!

I do realize that Rent has a rather romantic view of the starving artist and bohemian poverty and rebellious behavior and an uncomplicated view of business and corporate America. And that it doesn't particularly tackle social issues surrounding AIDS. But... I still love it! I don't care! I love that it has its giant, bohemian heart on a sleeve, I love that it's earnest and optimistic and idealistic, that it's about connecting and risking emotional involvement.

I also like that there's a gay couple, a lesbian couple, and a straight couple, and that they all have emotional weight, as opposed to the non-straight couples being played for comedy. And I like that all the couples are interracial and that it's not a big deal! And that the rich, upper-middle-class characters are both black, and that that's also not seen as strange. And that everyone is ok with Angel being a crossdresser.

Well, Roger and April aren't interracial. But I'm pretty sure Benny and his wife are, given that his investor/father-in-law is white. But yes, I like that I have to sit back and think to see if I can find a non-interracial couple.

And I am so, so very glad that the movie kept the original cast, basically, and that they didn't try to make Mimi white or whatnot when they recast her. Yeah, it's not race-blind casting, but it is so good to see a cast on screen that doesn't just have token minority characters.

And hey, all this is secondary because the story totally gets me every time. And music!

I realized while I was watching that I've gotten used to musicals being told in the Brechtian manner instead of the integrated style of Rodgers and Hammerstein, where the musical sections feel very deliberately staged and meta and set apart from the story. Rent doesn't do that; while there is a bit of staging/dream sequence involved, mostly it just seems to posit that, well, people are just naturally breaking out into song. It took a while to get used to, but by the end, it felt completely natural to have people singing. Although, hrm, I'd love seeing a Brechtian version of Rent on film, just because I love bits and pieces in the musical like people singing to the answering machine.

But! They have bits I love and I love the music and they were singing on screen! Yay! I love musicals ^_^.

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Hee...you had exactly the same reaction to this movie that I did.
I fell utterly and irrevocably in love with it. Adored it. And while it has flaws, slow bits where they are talking and in the stage version sang it - it still worked somehow. I love the fact that the answering machine message is "SPEAK" in both Roger and Mark's voices for instance or the interslicing of dream musical numbers, music video montages, breaking out in song, and speaking.

It is the only film I think I cried and laughed at the same time. I think I literally cried during most of it. And some of the songs just ring so true now - "Living in America at the End of the Millenium, You Are What You Own" - sung by Rodger struggling in New Mexico with his brand new guitare hunting his art, and Mark struggling with the new job for the sleazy news media outlet. Or "Viva La Bohemia" - with gay dancing. Or the lovely Tango Maureen. Yeah, it skipped some of my favorite songs, but it also had some of my favorites with the original cast singing them perfectly.

Oh, this film is definitely on my DVD buying list. My favorite musical.
You're the first person I've read who responded to it in almost the exact same way I did. With love, regardless of the flaws.

My love for it grew exponentially the second and third times I saw it, after I got over the song cuts (Incidentally, there are two more songs on the CD than in the film, so I wonder if they'll pop up as deleted scenes on the DVD or a director's cut), particularly the big "And it's beginning to snow..." number, which is one of my favorites on stage. I still would have preferred the entire score be sung, as in the play. But there is so much to love...and what is there looks and sounds absolutely fantastic. I loved most of the staging and choreography of the musical numbers better than on stage. For example, I loved in "La Vie Boheme," where they all start rocking Mark like a baby during the "celebrate the birth" part. And the dancing on the poles in the subway in "Santa Fe." And the room full of tango dancers in "Tango: Maureen." And Mimi's number at the Kit Kat Klub, etc. etc. Chris Columbus really did a marvellous job of opening up the world of the show to the various exterior locations. And seeing the original cast was fantastic, and Tracie Thoms, from Wonderfalls really impressed me as Joanne. Beautiful voice.

Oh I love love love it! I need to watch it again, and I adore being able to get it on DVD later! Yay!

I loved that Rent was a real musical, with none of the it's-all-in-her-head tricks of the Chicago movie. The first time Mark opens his mouth and sings on the bicycle, it is jarring, but at some point, as it progresses, it seems so natural to see the characters singing their thoughts that it doesn't seem as if they should be expressing themselves any other way. And that's what makes it such a great musical.

I don't mind either, and I like the stage tricks of Chicago, especially given that on stage, it's even more staged and surreal. It was rather odd seeing Mark singing on the bike the first time, but it really worked at the end.

On the other hand, I adore the meta-ness of other musicals and the staging and the way people arrange them, so both work for me!

Oh, yes, I definitely agree that the meta framework worked perfectly for Chicago, particularly since I had no clue how they would ever put it on film when I first heard about the movie, because it's such a stagey seemingly uncinematic show. And I thought they did a great job. At the same time, though, I just think it's really neat that Hollywood is still willing to make a movie musical where there's no explanation for why the characters are singing. The audience just has to accept it and move on (or not, I guess!), especially since a number of reviews when Chicago came out wondered if a "traditional" musical was possible on film today. Heh, not that Rent is exactly "traditional" in subject matter!

*adoring sigh* i saw rent, too! it was great!

Rent (2005 movie)

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