#1
Posted: 11/13/05 at 8:33pm
Before I say anything, let me make it known that I absolutely adore Rent...the essence of the material, its themes, its score, its heart. Going into this film, I was not expecting a replica of the stage show. In fact, I was hoping for weaker parts to be strengthened and appropriate changes to be made to fit this new medium.
That being said, I give you my thoughts.
Overall, I was horribly disappointed in this film. It felt to me as though it had been approached from the perspective of "What should we do with THIS song?" rather than retaining whatever it is that makes Rent such a special piece and telling and developing the story in the most effective way possible. The result is lazily written dialogue, extreme lack of development of characters and their relationships with each other, jumping into songs with little or no justification, and very flimsy support of the piece's themes.
I could go on for days about the piece, so instead I'll try to highlight some things.
I think "Seasons of Love" works well onstage. My only problem is where it is in the film. Of course, in this particular film, it could not have been anywhere else, but had it been written differently, perhaps the song could have been stuck somewhere where the song has context, thus adding more meaning to the song.
I felt "Rent" started off strangely, but once Roger started singing, the song had context, and it started working. It was one of the better filmed numbers, and it was visually stunning towards the end. The (what was probably) hundreds of voices added to this song was chilling. However, once the song was over, things were awkward again. The hundreds of people who were just angrily throwing their burnign eviction notices (or rent bills?) out their windows suddenly decide "Ok, it's time to leave." You know. Because the song is over.
"One Song Glory" is standing out in my mind as a poorly handled piece. First of all, we have Roger going out on the roof to sing this song. Ok, that's fine, but he decides to end the song himself (when, in fact, the song is WRITTEN without a real ending because he's cut off) and walk downstairs when Mimi coincidentally knocks on his door. It did not work at all. Of course, in this song, you also have the flashbacks that tells us about April, and we are not told that she committed suicide. Big mistake. Big BIG mistake. The suicide is something BIG as far as the character of Roger goes; it only raises his stakes and intensifies his guilt. I got no sense of this guilt the entire movie from Adam, and I wonder if this was partially to blame. Who knows?
"Light My Candle" seemed to serve no purpose. It could have easily been dialogue, and it did work fine. I just don't see why it had to be sung. Some of the choices as far as what they kept as sung material and changed to dialogue greatly confused me.
"Tango: Maureen" was one of my favorites. I know some people felt it was out of place, but I actually felt it fit in fine. If I can be nitpicky, the choreography didn't seem all that imaginative, and some of the camera work was a bit odd to me, but it was one of the better numbers of the film. And its one of the songs that actually came from substantial justification for breaking into that song to begin with.
"Out Tonight" was, for me, easily the best filmed scene in the movie. Not just the best filmed musical number, but best filmed scene. I loved it. Rosario is absolutely fantastic and completely captivating. She just GETS this character. It was fabulous.
It's ironic, however that the best filmed sequence of the movie goes right into one of the absolute worst. "Another Day." It's a wreck. The beginning of the song was all right from what I can remember, but once they leave that loft, it turns to a wreck. Roger is trying to get Mimi out of the apartment. He doesn't WANT to hear her. Why would he follow her out to the fire escape to listen to her telling him all this "No day but today" stuff? You really think he wants to listen? It made no sense, and it was laughable how Roger was saying "The door is that way" while he was standing on the fire escape and Mimi was out in the street. And even worse...when Mark, Angel, and Collins come along to console her. It was laughable. I actually thought to myself "Are you KIDDING me?" It looked like a joke. And just from a directorial standpoint...having Roger and Mimi that physical distance from each other greatly lowers the intensity of it. They should have been up in each other's faces...Roger screaming at Mimi as she's singing her "No day but today" message. I think I wanted to cry during this scene. And I mean that in a bad way.
"Will I?" was another mistake. It started out nicely, but to keep it only within the life support group was a very poor choice. It's very moving in the stage show partially because it's connecting this universal pain many people throughout the city are having. I do have to say though...the actors in the life support group I found to be very moving. They have this heartbreaking air about them...this desperation for optimism mixed with this incredible fear and regret that they're trying to shake. They were wonderful. I found Aaron Lohr at the beginning of this song to just capture something heartbreakingly beautiful. I can say the same for the man (forgive me, I don't know the actor's name) who sang the "Look I find some of what you teach suspect.." lines in the first life support meeting.
"La Vie Boheme" was a nicely done number. I don't know what, but something struck me not so favorably about a bit of it, but overall, I really did enjoy it. It captured a great energy. Which was a nice change from many other parts of the film.
I found "Take Me or Leave Me" to be another big joke. The guests following Joanne and Maureen around was very laughable. And the whole commitment thing...I'm not sure sure about that. But Idina and Tracie are stunning in this scene, thankfully.
"Without You" was one of the finer moments of the film. My only complaint is that it didn't make sense to me that Roger and Mimi were singing it, when it was filmed as though they weren't "without you" until halfway through the song. Regardless, it has many powerful moments. The fading members of the life support meeting was very effective, and Wilson Heredia is absolutely heartbreaking. And I just have to throw in now--since I mentioned Wilson--that it's hard for me to understand how this man ended up in Westchester bartending (that's what he said, right?). His performance is absolutely remarkable in every way. Really, WHAT an actor. I hope to see him getting great work in the future and LOTS of it.
I just have to say, before I actually talk about "I'll Cover Your (Reprise)" that Maureen's little speech before this song was one of the two most touching moments of this film. I'll talk about the other later, but that moment was really beautiful to me. Now, this song was awkward for sure, but it wasn't all that bothersome. Jesse was very moving in this number.
"Halloween." Oh. Right. It wasn't in the movie. Woops.
"Goodbye, Love." Oh BAD. I don't think I even WANT to see the second half of this song because the first part was just so strange. I think it'd make MUCH more sense back at Mark and Roger's. But maybe that's just me.
And just for the record, all my fears about how the removal of these two pieces from the film would effect it were confirmed. Not that putting them back in would save it anyway.
"What You Own" was a joke. A JOKE. I honestly am not sure what else I can say.
So we get to the finales and "Your Eyes." And quiet honestly, I couldn't figure out why Joanne and Maureen seemed to care a lot more about what was happening to Mimi than anyone else does at this point in the film, but it did seem that way. And I mean that as in...Idina and Tracie seemed more present at this part than anyone else. I felt like Adam Pascal wasn't giving much. I felt this way the whole darn film.
As far as the very end of this, when Mimi sort of...comes back to life, Rosario handled that incredibly well. I really don't like that part in the original material, but Rosario almost made it work here. *Nod of approval to her*
Finale B was nicely done. Thank you God. Since it's mostly us watching Mark's documentary and not the character sitting there singing, it works very well, and it's even moving. That other incredibly touching part I was talking about earlier? While watching the documentary, towards the very end, the images start flashing more and more quickly, and on the last chords, they stop on footage of Angel. He's in his "male form" smiling at the camera. I just think it was a beautiful moment. The very first and very last moments of the film were gorgeous.
As far as the actors go, I found Pascal to be sorely lacking, and I was a bit disappointed in Anthony. Though I'm not sure if it's him, or if it's the fact that since all his narration, "Halloween," and the second half of "Goodbye Love" are gone, the character itself is a little...flat. The rest of the cast I was absolutely THRILLED with, although I had some minor qualms with some minor things. Menzel actually disappointed me at one part. Shocker, right?
I realize a lot of that probably seems like opinions with tons of insubstantial backing, but I promise you...you call me on it, I'll justify my opinion. I've been travelling on the train a lot yesterday and today and I pretty much wrote up my complete thoughts on the film, and it made for about 14 1/2 pages, and there's no wayI'm typing THAT up if only for the reason that nobody'd even look at it.
Anyway, just to wrap up my thoughts, I'm actually heartbroken (as silly as that sounds) about how this film turned out. I felt it did not uphold the heart and themes of its source material, and I think that's a damn shame. I think plenty of people will see it and enjoy it because it IS Rent in movie form after all, but it completely felt short of the magical piece that I think it could have been, and it truly breaks my heart.
That being said, I give you my thoughts.
Overall, I was horribly disappointed in this film. It felt to me as though it had been approached from the perspective of "What should we do with THIS song?" rather than retaining whatever it is that makes Rent such a special piece and telling and developing the story in the most effective way possible. The result is lazily written dialogue, extreme lack of development of characters and their relationships with each other, jumping into songs with little or no justification, and very flimsy support of the piece's themes.
I could go on for days about the piece, so instead I'll try to highlight some things.
I think "Seasons of Love" works well onstage. My only problem is where it is in the film. Of course, in this particular film, it could not have been anywhere else, but had it been written differently, perhaps the song could have been stuck somewhere where the song has context, thus adding more meaning to the song.
I felt "Rent" started off strangely, but once Roger started singing, the song had context, and it started working. It was one of the better filmed numbers, and it was visually stunning towards the end. The (what was probably) hundreds of voices added to this song was chilling. However, once the song was over, things were awkward again. The hundreds of people who were just angrily throwing their burnign eviction notices (or rent bills?) out their windows suddenly decide "Ok, it's time to leave." You know. Because the song is over.
"One Song Glory" is standing out in my mind as a poorly handled piece. First of all, we have Roger going out on the roof to sing this song. Ok, that's fine, but he decides to end the song himself (when, in fact, the song is WRITTEN without a real ending because he's cut off) and walk downstairs when Mimi coincidentally knocks on his door. It did not work at all. Of course, in this song, you also have the flashbacks that tells us about April, and we are not told that she committed suicide. Big mistake. Big BIG mistake. The suicide is something BIG as far as the character of Roger goes; it only raises his stakes and intensifies his guilt. I got no sense of this guilt the entire movie from Adam, and I wonder if this was partially to blame. Who knows?
"Light My Candle" seemed to serve no purpose. It could have easily been dialogue, and it did work fine. I just don't see why it had to be sung. Some of the choices as far as what they kept as sung material and changed to dialogue greatly confused me.
"Tango: Maureen" was one of my favorites. I know some people felt it was out of place, but I actually felt it fit in fine. If I can be nitpicky, the choreography didn't seem all that imaginative, and some of the camera work was a bit odd to me, but it was one of the better numbers of the film. And its one of the songs that actually came from substantial justification for breaking into that song to begin with.
"Out Tonight" was, for me, easily the best filmed scene in the movie. Not just the best filmed musical number, but best filmed scene. I loved it. Rosario is absolutely fantastic and completely captivating. She just GETS this character. It was fabulous.
It's ironic, however that the best filmed sequence of the movie goes right into one of the absolute worst. "Another Day." It's a wreck. The beginning of the song was all right from what I can remember, but once they leave that loft, it turns to a wreck. Roger is trying to get Mimi out of the apartment. He doesn't WANT to hear her. Why would he follow her out to the fire escape to listen to her telling him all this "No day but today" stuff? You really think he wants to listen? It made no sense, and it was laughable how Roger was saying "The door is that way" while he was standing on the fire escape and Mimi was out in the street. And even worse...when Mark, Angel, and Collins come along to console her. It was laughable. I actually thought to myself "Are you KIDDING me?" It looked like a joke. And just from a directorial standpoint...having Roger and Mimi that physical distance from each other greatly lowers the intensity of it. They should have been up in each other's faces...Roger screaming at Mimi as she's singing her "No day but today" message. I think I wanted to cry during this scene. And I mean that in a bad way.
"Will I?" was another mistake. It started out nicely, but to keep it only within the life support group was a very poor choice. It's very moving in the stage show partially because it's connecting this universal pain many people throughout the city are having. I do have to say though...the actors in the life support group I found to be very moving. They have this heartbreaking air about them...this desperation for optimism mixed with this incredible fear and regret that they're trying to shake. They were wonderful. I found Aaron Lohr at the beginning of this song to just capture something heartbreakingly beautiful. I can say the same for the man (forgive me, I don't know the actor's name) who sang the "Look I find some of what you teach suspect.." lines in the first life support meeting.
"La Vie Boheme" was a nicely done number. I don't know what, but something struck me not so favorably about a bit of it, but overall, I really did enjoy it. It captured a great energy. Which was a nice change from many other parts of the film.
I found "Take Me or Leave Me" to be another big joke. The guests following Joanne and Maureen around was very laughable. And the whole commitment thing...I'm not sure sure about that. But Idina and Tracie are stunning in this scene, thankfully.
"Without You" was one of the finer moments of the film. My only complaint is that it didn't make sense to me that Roger and Mimi were singing it, when it was filmed as though they weren't "without you" until halfway through the song. Regardless, it has many powerful moments. The fading members of the life support meeting was very effective, and Wilson Heredia is absolutely heartbreaking. And I just have to throw in now--since I mentioned Wilson--that it's hard for me to understand how this man ended up in Westchester bartending (that's what he said, right?). His performance is absolutely remarkable in every way. Really, WHAT an actor. I hope to see him getting great work in the future and LOTS of it.
I just have to say, before I actually talk about "I'll Cover Your (Reprise)" that Maureen's little speech before this song was one of the two most touching moments of this film. I'll talk about the other later, but that moment was really beautiful to me. Now, this song was awkward for sure, but it wasn't all that bothersome. Jesse was very moving in this number.
"Halloween." Oh. Right. It wasn't in the movie. Woops.
"Goodbye, Love." Oh BAD. I don't think I even WANT to see the second half of this song because the first part was just so strange. I think it'd make MUCH more sense back at Mark and Roger's. But maybe that's just me.
And just for the record, all my fears about how the removal of these two pieces from the film would effect it were confirmed. Not that putting them back in would save it anyway.
"What You Own" was a joke. A JOKE. I honestly am not sure what else I can say.
So we get to the finales and "Your Eyes." And quiet honestly, I couldn't figure out why Joanne and Maureen seemed to care a lot more about what was happening to Mimi than anyone else does at this point in the film, but it did seem that way. And I mean that as in...Idina and Tracie seemed more present at this part than anyone else. I felt like Adam Pascal wasn't giving much. I felt this way the whole darn film.
As far as the very end of this, when Mimi sort of...comes back to life, Rosario handled that incredibly well. I really don't like that part in the original material, but Rosario almost made it work here. *Nod of approval to her*
Finale B was nicely done. Thank you God. Since it's mostly us watching Mark's documentary and not the character sitting there singing, it works very well, and it's even moving. That other incredibly touching part I was talking about earlier? While watching the documentary, towards the very end, the images start flashing more and more quickly, and on the last chords, they stop on footage of Angel. He's in his "male form" smiling at the camera. I just think it was a beautiful moment. The very first and very last moments of the film were gorgeous.
As far as the actors go, I found Pascal to be sorely lacking, and I was a bit disappointed in Anthony. Though I'm not sure if it's him, or if it's the fact that since all his narration, "Halloween," and the second half of "Goodbye Love" are gone, the character itself is a little...flat. The rest of the cast I was absolutely THRILLED with, although I had some minor qualms with some minor things. Menzel actually disappointed me at one part. Shocker, right?
I realize a lot of that probably seems like opinions with tons of insubstantial backing, but I promise you...you call me on it, I'll justify my opinion. I've been travelling on the train a lot yesterday and today and I pretty much wrote up my complete thoughts on the film, and it made for about 14 1/2 pages, and there's no wayI'm typing THAT up if only for the reason that nobody'd even look at it.
Anyway, just to wrap up my thoughts, I'm actually heartbroken (as silly as that sounds) about how this film turned out. I felt it did not uphold the heart and themes of its source material, and I think that's a damn shame. I think plenty of people will see it and enjoy it because it IS Rent in movie form after all, but it completely felt short of the magical piece that I think it could have been, and it truly breaks my heart.
Updated On: 11/14/05 at 08:33 PM
My own fault for reading spoilers.
. 
