So reviewers are weighing on on the Rent movie everywhere (check out www.nytimes.com, among others if interested)...And the result is mixed. There is talk of how the story is muddled, how the material is dated and how the actors are too old to be playing people in their 20's.
They are doing their jobs. They are looking at the movie from purely a filmamking perspective. They are not looking at it from a loyal fan's perspective. They make cracks about the unabashed idealism of the story, but I feel like this is the most compelling part of it. These are characters that, for the most part, have no money and don't know where their next meal is coming from. How does Roger keep up with his supply of AZT? How does Mark charge his camera if they have no electricity? These questions are pretty much irrelevant. The point is that this group of friends survives despite the odds. They keep their ideals and make their art. That is the crux of the story. The question is then, does the movie live up to that?
I was on the fence about the idea of there even being a movie because the whole thing is about not selling out and isn't the ultimate sellout putting the story in the hands of a Hollywood director to make a mainstream, holiday weekend movie?
When the reviewers talk about how the optimism and idealism are naive and silly, I say that's ridiculous. Sometimes,idealism is all you have. If you work in a job that you find boring, having enough idealism to think past it is sometimes what keeps you going. In a time when people are cynical and hopeless, it is important to keep the idealism alive. I listen to Rent at work. Why? Because it keeps me going. Someday, I think. Someday, I will do what I want to do. I will write. I will do it. I can do it because Jonathan Larson did it. And if he could do it, how come I can't? Of course, Jonathan died before he saw the whole success of his creation, but that's another subject, entirely.
The threat of AIDS is something that people also say is dated. It's not. More people than ever now have AIDS and the public thinks it's old news now that rich Americans can get drug cocktails to keep them alive longer. People say bohemia is dead. It's not dead. It just looks different now than it did then. People take temp jobs and jobs they're not necessarily thrilled with to pay the bills so they can create. People work for free. People open their art studios for eveyone to see. Bohemia still exists. Come to the DUMBO community in Brooklyn.
I am concerned that my faovrite parts of the show haven't made it into the film, but that's not a criticsm of the movie, it's just something I would like to see. The part that hits home most for me is in the latter part of Act II when it looks like everything is falling apart and Mark, the narrator and the character with which I most identify, tries to make his best friend and roommate Roger stay instead of running away from his problems:
Mark: I hear there are great restaurants out West.
Roger: Some of the best. How could she?
Mark: How could you let her go?
Roger: You just don't know. How could we lose Angel?
Mark: Maybe you'll see why when you stop escaping your pain. At least now if you try, Angel's death won't be in vain.
Roger: His death is in vain.
Mark: Are you insane? There's so much to care about; there's me, there's Mimi.
And from listening to the CD until it barely exists, I know the words. But I never fail to be moved by the barely controlled tears and anger in both characters' voices, both accusing their best friend of failure, of not living up to expectation. That raw emotion is what it's all about and if the movie can't find a way to communicate that, then that is the real problem, more so than any date put on the material.
Roger: Mark has got his work. They say Mark lives for his work. Mark hides in his work.
Mark: From what?
Roger: From facing your failure, facing your loneliness, facing the fact you live a lie. Yes, you live a lie. Tell you why: You're always preaching not to be numb, when that's how you thrive. You pretend to create and observe when you really detach from feeling alive.
Mark: Perhaps that's because I'm the one of us to survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment