Who did not like RENT?
Who did not like RENT?
#0Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 8:04am
Hello All,
I have just gotten back from the MIDNIGHT screening of RENT, here in SF. I loved almost everything about the stage play, the music, the lyrics and everything about it. But for some reason the movie did not do it for me. The cinematography was AMAZING, the visuals were great, but there was just times where I felt that it was breakout into song time and not enough reason to do so. I also felt that everything was tight. Not open enough. For example: "Glory" you had Roger on the roof the whole time, but not enough movement to work with. There were times during that scene, I was thinking it was on rewind, since I saw the pose or movement before. Also, there were a couple of songs where I felt that we were waiting for nothing, but for them to sing.
And the end, OMG I did not beleive that she came back to life and saw ANGEL, I know this is HOLLYWOOD and all, but Rasario had the perfect make-up and hair and voice, to be singing something, after she just woke from the dead. I also beleive that I was not the only one who felt that way (especially in the theatre). Many people were laughing at some of the same things that I thought just seemed very cheezzy, especially when Roger was singing "What you Own" in the middle of New Mexico...that got a huge laugh.
But what got one of the BIGGEST applause, which was funny was not the movie itlself, but the Trailer for THE PRODUCERS.
I wish the movie RENT well, I will see it again, since I worked on the film (a bit) and recommend it to friend and stuff, but I still think there was something missing!!!
What does anyone else think?
Drtheatre
"Now the best way to learn the theater, always, is to be a stage manager"
-Stephen Sondheim
#1re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 8:27amWe must have been to the same screening. Yea, WYO was a joke the only thing I didn't like. They should have cut WYO instead of H and GBL. My friend who never saw Rent live was with me tonight. He enjoyed the film and asked some questions about it questions like "How did April die?" and "Why is Roger in Santa Fe?" and more. I had to fill him in on the missing parts that were cut, so yes, there were parts missing.
"Now I may not have much, but I have more determination than any man you're likely to meet." - Big Fish
"Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes." - Swordfish
"Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes." - Swordfish
#2re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 8:30am
Yes we were at the Same Screening. Did you like it, for the THIRD time???
Drtheatre
"Now the best way to learn the theater, always, is to be a stage manager"
-Stephen Sondheim
#3re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 9:06amHaha. Each time I went, it was with someone new. Each time I screened it, I had different emotions about it. Everyone's a critic because we think that we know so much about it. Parts were missing and I still had issues with some things, but slowly I'm beginning to get over it. For the most part, I am glad this has finally reached the movie theatres, so that everyone could enjoy it. 3 friends of mine (they all don't know each other) loved the movie and is VERY interested in seeing it on stage. Perhaps this will boost ticket sales for the live version of RENT? Who knows. Overall, the film Rent still delivered the message as if you seen it for the first time. I am still loving it! So what's the countdown to the DVD. The deleted scenes should be great!
"Now I may not have much, but I have more determination than any man you're likely to meet." - Big Fish
"Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes." - Swordfish
"Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes." - Swordfish
#4re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 9:32amMaybe I'm getting your acronyms mixed up, but did they really cut "Halloween" and "Goodbye Love"? Both songs are on the soundtrack.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
bwaylyric
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/22/03
#5re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 11:09amDuring the Roger/New Mexico scene, I could not stop thinking about Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" video!
#6re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 11:31amthe whole laughter over WYO is driving me nuts. It was not laugh-out-loud funny! HOW else would you like that scene to have been filmed? I don't get why southwestern landscape automatically envokes laughter.
Sunchips: Best Kept Secret in the chip aisle!!
#7re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:12pmI loved the movie, but a lot people were laughing during WYO when I saw it, myself included. I don't think it's so much that they showed the landscape, as it was Roger posing on that rock while he was singing. It kind of looked like it turned into an Adam Pascal music video (not that it's his fault). It felt out of place or too unrealistic. I'm not sure exactly what it was.
#8re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:24pm
I'm not sure exactly what it was.
It was the hair! Seriously, if his hair hadn't been blowing in the wind I wouldn't have found it nearly as bizarre. As it was, the wind blowing just made me think of the large fans they use in photo shoots to give the model a windswept look. To go from the Roger who won't let himself leave his apartment to standing free as a bird with the wind blowing through his air just took too much of an adjustment!
"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run" - Jeff Buckley
#9re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:29pm
The Cliff!!
I think the idea was nice; to shoot him somewhere that was *clearly* not New York (that was actually filmed in the Santa Fe area), but the shots just ended up looking really funny. What was also funny to me is that like... Roger isn't really a guy who would care about matching his clothes. Let alone matching his clothes to his environment. I know, I know, movie magic -- he has to look good on camera, but it was like for one day Roger went "oh, I can't look like a bum -- I'm going to The Cliff today!" The angle is also odd sometimes, and Adam looks like he's standing on a plastic model OF a cliff.
I'm sorry, but it is SO laugh-out-loud funny.
And as far as Mimi coming back to life, even though it's Hollywood? Suspension of disbelief.
#10re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:36pm
but the shots just ended up looking really funny.
I think because everything else is so filthy and depressing that seeing the actual Santa Fe has the opposite affect from its intended purpose. I don't know if that makes any sense though.
When Collins is singing about Santa Fe in the subway car and your mind automatically goes to that place of imagining it along with him, what it would be like to escape a living hell, it becomes so much more expansive in your imagination. When they drop us in the middle of the actual Santa Fe, which is very pretty, like a postcard, it takes away from the characters who dream of better but never quite achieve it. Santa Fe is just something we're supposed to be left to imagine, some utopia no one ever quite reaches. Having Roger singing off a cliff just disturbs the imagination on that level. Because then it's real and it's not at all what we'd imagined it to be, neither freeing nor uplifting, just very large and fake and out of place with the rest of the dirt and grime everyone else is surrounded in.
"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run" - Jeff Buckley
Updated On: 11/23/05 at 12:36 PM
#11re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:38pmI just meant like... the angle of the shot. I can't put a finger on what it is exactly, but it just looks really weird -- cinematically.
#12re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:39pmIt looked like a shot they got very quickly because they were losing their light that day and having some footage was better than having none. Or like he was standing still but the cliffs seemed to be moving somehow.
"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run" - Jeff Buckley
#13re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 12:41pm
Or like he was standing still but the cliffs seemed to be moving somehow.
That could be it. That definitely sort-of describes what I was seeing.
Marguerite Chauvelin
Broadway Star Joined: 7/19/05
#14re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 1:24pmUnrelated- Emcee I LOVE your avatar.
If Percy Blakeney were in Les Mis....
Percy: Sink me! If it isn't Javvurt!
Javert: Zsah-vair, it's pronounced Zsah-vair.
Pecry: But it's spelled J-A-V-E-R-T Javvurt.
Javert: Repeat after me Zsah...Zsah....
Percy: Oh! Zsa-Zsa! Like the Gabor sister! Well I personally have always prefered Eva.
Javert: (Looks for gun)
Percy: Sink me! If it isn't Javvurt!
Javert: Zsah-vair, it's pronounced Zsah-vair.
Pecry: But it's spelled J-A-V-E-R-T Javvurt.
Javert: Repeat after me Zsah...Zsah....
Percy: Oh! Zsa-Zsa! Like the Gabor sister! Well I personally have always prefered Eva.
Javert: (Looks for gun)
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
#16re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 2:38pmMarguerite Chauvelin - I agree - Emcee your avatar is wonderful ^_^
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#17re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 2:43pm
I doubt Sarah Schulman is seeing the movie, but she certainly hated the stage show. According to her, Jonathan Larson ripped off her novel for (I'm pretty sure) the story of Joanne, Maureen, and Mark.
Slate
#18re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 3:50pmOh Lord. Don't even get me started on Sarah...
#19re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:21pmI bacicly thought the same as everyone here, but it was not bad enough to ruin the movie. I still LOVED it. It just needed some ajustments.
"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
#20re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:29pmThank you, re: the avatar. I found it and HAD to use it!
YessicaB
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/05
#21re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 4:33pm
I loved the movie, but I agree that Roger in Santa Fe singing WYO was awful. I kept thinking of Britney Spears "I'm not a girl" with him on that rock, wind blowing.....
#22re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 5:04pm
I saw it today, and thought it was pretty good.
I felt the first half of the movie was slow - and the whole thing seemed a bit long.
No one really laughed during WYO, But that and other things DID seem cheezy/corny.
Overall the performances were great, and it was ejoyable. Couldn't say I "did not like it."
Updated On: 11/23/05 at 05:04 PM
#23re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 5:24pm
Maybe I'm getting your acronyms mixed up, but did they really cut "Halloween" and "Goodbye Love"? Both songs are on the soundtrack.
Not sure if this has been answered..probably has, but Halloween and most of Goodbye Love were cut. Halloween was my favorite song. 
.
#24re: Who did not like RENT?
Posted: 11/23/05 at 5:38pm
Goodbye Love ends at "I can't believe this is goodbye..."
There's a scene which I won't give away, though, very near to the end where an instrumental version of the cut segment of Goodbye Love is used as underscoring. I noticed that the second time I saw the movie, and it made me really happy.
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