[REVIEW] Rent
Mar. 12th, 2006 04:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldBefore I watched Rent last night with J., that enormously popular Jonathan Larson musical brought only two things to my mind. The first was the catchy Pet Shop Boys song "Rent", with its cynical "I love you/you pay my rent" lyric. The second was a particularly hostile article from the Atlantic Monthly in the mid-1990s, one that held up Rent as the central example of all that was wrong in Broadway.
Even after watching the film version in its entirely, and having listened to the soundtrack album in bits and pieces, I don't feel competent enough to judge Rent as a musical. Perhaps contrary to stereotype, I'm not a musical fan. It is true that, in watching the film, certain plot holes jumped out at me. Why is the character of Angel, so frequently cited as an inspiration to the group later on, so underdeveloped in the first part? Is the character of Joanne a reasonable one considering North American hierarchies of race and power? Why was Maureen's performance-art protest so important? Couldn't Chris Columbus have done something, in a movie with most of the action taking place in December 1989, about a lyrical reference to 1991's Thelma and Louisa?
Rent as a story doesn't quite hold together for me. Perhaps appropriately enough--perhaps appropriately given the genre, can anyone tell me?--it works together as a string of songs. I'm not being particularly original in identifying "I'll Cover You" as the standout track, but it is. The contrasting characters of responsibly Bohemian Marc and recklessly enthusiastic Mimi hold court over the assembled characters, as I suspect Larson intended them to. Rent might not be the best story, but it has the virtue of combining action and music rather nicely. It was worth seeing for that.
Even after watching the film version in its entirely, and having listened to the soundtrack album in bits and pieces, I don't feel competent enough to judge Rent as a musical. Perhaps contrary to stereotype, I'm not a musical fan. It is true that, in watching the film, certain plot holes jumped out at me. Why is the character of Angel, so frequently cited as an inspiration to the group later on, so underdeveloped in the first part? Is the character of Joanne a reasonable one considering North American hierarchies of race and power? Why was Maureen's performance-art protest so important? Couldn't Chris Columbus have done something, in a movie with most of the action taking place in December 1989, about a lyrical reference to 1991's Thelma and Louisa?
Rent as a story doesn't quite hold together for me. Perhaps appropriately enough--perhaps appropriately given the genre, can anyone tell me?--it works together as a string of songs. I'm not being particularly original in identifying "I'll Cover You" as the standout track, but it is. The contrasting characters of responsibly Bohemian Marc and recklessly enthusiastic Mimi hold court over the assembled characters, as I suspect Larson intended them to. Rent might not be the best story, but it has the virtue of combining action and music rather nicely. It was worth seeing for that.
