Written by Stephen Chbosky, based on the musical by Jonathan Larson, with music and lyrics by Larson
Directed by Chris Columbus
I have never seen the famous, Tony Award-winning Broadway play Rent, from the mind of the late Jonathan Larson, that originated in 1996, and which is still running nine years later. Thus, I had no idea what was to come, no idea as to who the characters were, and without a clue as to any of the songs. To tell you the truth, I wasn't really expecting much from a Chris Columbus-helmed musical about life, love, and sexuality set in late 80's/early 90's New York. Color me stunned.
The film, which is far less showy than you'd expect, opens on Christmas Eve of 1989, when HIV-positive guitarist/songwriter Roger Davis (still mourning for his girlfriend who died of AIDS; played by Adam Pascal) and struggling filmmaker Mark Cohen (Anthony Rapp) are trying to figure out exactly how they're going to pay for the past year's rent, considering their former roommate Benjamin Coffin III (Taye Diggs)--who is now their landlord--let their rent slide while they were still on friendly terms, though things have changed since Benny plans on opening a cyber studio next to the apartment building, which a great many of the tenants, Mark and Roger included, are opposed to. Their HIV-positive friend Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin) stops by, but only after being mugged and beaten by a group of thugs, then discovered by a drag queen named Angel Dumott Schunard (Wilson Jermaine Heredia) whom he falls in love with, and who is also HIV-positive.
We've also got some other characters on display: Mimi Marquez (Rosario Dawson), the hot new nineteen-year-old dancer at the Cat Scratch Club who intends to romance the brokenhearted Roger; Maureen Johnson (Idina Menzel), Mark's performance artist ex-girlfriend who has now taken up with another woman, much to Mark's dismay; and Joanne Jefferson (Tracie Thoms), Maureen's straight-laced girlfriend who strives to find committment in an increasingly non-committal world. We follow this intriguing, loveable cast of bohemians from Christmas Eve 1989 to Christmas Eve 1990, experiencing all of the changes that occur in their lives. They stand up against capitalism, commercialism, and the digitizing of Mother Nature, all the while throwing into the face of society the fact that some of them are gay, some of them are straight, they have as much sex as they want, they don't believe in the perfect values and ideals of the "American Dream," and that they still love each other all the same.
Rent shook the world when it opened on Broadway in 1996, doing away with all sorts of homosexual/bisexual stereotypes in a playfully adult manner. It also discussed the serious issues of AIDs and the fact that we are all the same no matter what we may look like or what we may do in our private lives. While it is true that some of the hot-button sociopolitical matters feel a bit outdated, and that some of the timeliness has been lost in the nine years that it took to get the show from stage to screen (most notably when Collins scribbles "FIGHT AIDS!" on a chalkboard during a frenzied musical number), Rent still resonates because the people involved are so wonderfully real and tangible, and because the amazing cast puts every bit of their hearts into their performances.
Almost all of the actors originated their roles in the play's 1996 debut, with the exceptions of Rosario Dawson as Mimi and Tracie Thoms as Joanne. However, if you're a newcomer to the show like myself, you'd hardly be able to tell, as they blend in perfectly with the rest of the cast and have the same blazing chemistry with each other as everyone else. While all of the actors do more than commendable jobs, Anthony Rapp is especially worth notice as filmmaker Mark. Mark is given quite a large chunk of the story, and Rapp does a great job, covering the character's range from bitingly funny to sweetly likeable to heart-breakingly emotional. He also gets to have some of the best musical numbers in the film, such as the enticing and funny "Tango: Maureen," in which Mark and Joanne dance while berating Maureen's flirty tendencies, and "La Vie Boheme," which is the best number. It's a wild, crazy, impressively choreographed song-and-dance feast that sums up the show's theme: Live for today, and fight for tomorrow.
The rest of the music is great as well. Numbers like the recurring "Seasons of Love," the heartfelt number between Collins and Angel called "I'll Cover You," and the title song "Rent" are among the best. Coming from director Chris Columbus, the dazzling energy and vitality that these numbers contain comes as something of a surprise. You'd never expect that the man had it in him to create something so...alive. As with the two Harry Potter films he did, Columbus lets the material and those performing it guide him. Rent does the near-impossible: It creates its own pleasantly offbeat and somewhat mythical world of love and sex, strung together by the characters' tangled webs of emotion. It at times feels almost like a fantasy, though it also succeeds on the realism front. This is not an "hallucinatory" musical like Chicago, but a real, straight-up musical where the characters randomly burst into song to convey emotion. Unlike most recent attempts, Rent works, and to moving effect. It's funny and tender and intense and poignant and just makes you want to dance. After having seen the film, I now know why the Broadway show has amassed legions of fervent fans; these characters are worth seeing and getting to know.
Even though it's not as topical as it was in 1996, Rent still delivers an important message in a time where still the only place homosexuals have in entertainment are as advice gurus for the fashion-inept straight men on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy or as the disgustingly over-the-top weirdos in Adam Sandler's most low-rent ventures (though Brokeback Mountain does seem like it may put a stop to that trend). It's about love, people. Who cares who it's with?
Even nine years after the play was written, the film, with a screenplay adapted by Stephen Chbosky, still rings with a vibrant, powerful, "Screw you!" to traditional society.
Putting the screws to The Man has never been this heartfelt.
