#1
Posted: 11/29/09 at 2:18pm
FOREWARD: I hate to begin yet ANOTHER discussion of the film, especially after it's been put to bed for so long, but I recently concluded a community production of the stage show where I was given the opportunity to examine the script in detail. I promised not to revisit the feature film, final-show-on-broadway film, nor my couple of bootlegs until after the production was over. Today, I watched the feature film. And my opinion of it has completely changed.
PREFACE: The feature film was my first introduction to RENT, having only seen clips of songs prior from the Broadway show. I finally saw the show on Broadway October 8, 2006. I HATED the production. Not because of the material, but because of the horrific performances by most of the ensemble. My next encounter with RENT was seeing the filmed last-show-on-Broadway in a movie theater. I loved it.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE FILM NOW:
- Horrible!! It was difficult to sit through much of the time!!
- Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, and Jesse L. Martin (as much as I love his voice) should not have been cast. Especially Pascal. I also had issues with Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel at times.
^- To speak generally, the above-mentioned actors did not dig deep enough into their roles. And that is surprising since they CREATED THEM and had played them for so long. In film, everything is so specific. The audience can read behind your eyeballs. SO different from stage acting. They simply just didn't have enough going on moment-by-moment. It was laughable.
- Chris Columbus, a director whose body of work includes most of my favorite films (HOME ALONE movies, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, BICENTENNIAL MAN, STEPMOM, the HARRY POTTERs he did), made some of the worst decisions ever. First off, when I originally saw the film I hated the ending. I immediately had the thought that the end should have been the actors on stage again in their spotlights. Low and behold, in the alternate ending on the DVD, that was his original plan and it would have worked SOO much better!!
- Screenplay issues:
^- The film had mostly songs but suddenly following the I'll Cover You Reprise, there is distinct SUNG DIALOGUE. The only other time in the film there had been sung dialogue was in Light My Candle, but LMC works. The fight in the cemetery did not.
^-In "No Day But Today" Angel, Mark, and Collins come around the corner to comfort Mimi. This was ultra confusing. WHY? Later at the protest, there is a very distinct ad-lib by Roger telling Mimi what Mark looks like. But he knows that she already met him in No Day But Today, so why is he describing him? Also in this scene, Mimi screams "Angel!" in surprise to see him. It's supposed to be informative to the audience that they already knew each other, however they met already in No Day But Today. So I have absolutely no idea WHAT the history is.
^- Keeping Larson's lyrics but taking away the music made for uneffective dialogue. If you weren't going to have his other sung dialogue be sung, then rewrite it.
I now see the feature film for what it truly is -- a pitiful attempt by a director who didn't have the balls to adapt the masterpiece by a dead beloved playwright. I think it would have been more of a tribute to leave Jonathan Larson's stage work speak for him and to ADAPT THE MATERIAL for the film medium.
I have many other thoughts but can't express myself like I want to at the moment, so I'll end this here. I apologize for bringing up the topic again.
PS: I could have sworn that in the original release of the film, the song "Love Heals" played over the ending credits. But on the DVD, it was no where to be found. Did they change it or am I making this up?
PREFACE: The feature film was my first introduction to RENT, having only seen clips of songs prior from the Broadway show. I finally saw the show on Broadway October 8, 2006. I HATED the production. Not because of the material, but because of the horrific performances by most of the ensemble. My next encounter with RENT was seeing the filmed last-show-on-Broadway in a movie theater. I loved it.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE FILM NOW:
- Horrible!! It was difficult to sit through much of the time!!
- Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, and Jesse L. Martin (as much as I love his voice) should not have been cast. Especially Pascal. I also had issues with Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel at times.
^- To speak generally, the above-mentioned actors did not dig deep enough into their roles. And that is surprising since they CREATED THEM and had played them for so long. In film, everything is so specific. The audience can read behind your eyeballs. SO different from stage acting. They simply just didn't have enough going on moment-by-moment. It was laughable.
- Chris Columbus, a director whose body of work includes most of my favorite films (HOME ALONE movies, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, BICENTENNIAL MAN, STEPMOM, the HARRY POTTERs he did), made some of the worst decisions ever. First off, when I originally saw the film I hated the ending. I immediately had the thought that the end should have been the actors on stage again in their spotlights. Low and behold, in the alternate ending on the DVD, that was his original plan and it would have worked SOO much better!!
- Screenplay issues:
^- The film had mostly songs but suddenly following the I'll Cover You Reprise, there is distinct SUNG DIALOGUE. The only other time in the film there had been sung dialogue was in Light My Candle, but LMC works. The fight in the cemetery did not.
^-In "No Day But Today" Angel, Mark, and Collins come around the corner to comfort Mimi. This was ultra confusing. WHY? Later at the protest, there is a very distinct ad-lib by Roger telling Mimi what Mark looks like. But he knows that she already met him in No Day But Today, so why is he describing him? Also in this scene, Mimi screams "Angel!" in surprise to see him. It's supposed to be informative to the audience that they already knew each other, however they met already in No Day But Today. So I have absolutely no idea WHAT the history is.
^- Keeping Larson's lyrics but taking away the music made for uneffective dialogue. If you weren't going to have his other sung dialogue be sung, then rewrite it.
I now see the feature film for what it truly is -- a pitiful attempt by a director who didn't have the balls to adapt the masterpiece by a dead beloved playwright. I think it would have been more of a tribute to leave Jonathan Larson's stage work speak for him and to ADAPT THE MATERIAL for the film medium.
I have many other thoughts but can't express myself like I want to at the moment, so I'll end this here. I apologize for bringing up the topic again.
PS: I could have sworn that in the original release of the film, the song "Love Heals" played over the ending credits. But on the DVD, it was no where to be found. Did they change it or am I making this up?
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
