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This of course has to be prefaced with, RENT is
one of those plays where you either love it or you
don't get it. To put it plainly, I have never met
a person with middle views on it. I fall into the
love it camp, but almost everyone I went to see it
with fell into the other camp. Or more accurately
the "Why does everyone rave about this?" camp.
If you are offended by homosexuals, poverty, drag
queens, drugs, strippers, or people with AIDS,
this is NOT the movie for you. Drugs are not
gloried in the movie, in fact they are rather
heavily frowned upon, but they are there. Four of
the main eight characters are HIV positive. Four
of the main characters are homosexual or bisexual.
And these are not all the same characters.
Five of the eight main characters are living in
poverty. The main female love interest is a
stripper at an S&M club, and it does show her at
work. Though, sorry boys, you don't get to see any
of the goods. One of the people I went to see it
with was however scandalized by one of the 'dance'
moves she does in that scene.
Now, perhaps you're wondering how with all of that
you can find someone to relate to. Well, I can't
quite tell you but, but I do find the characters
likable, and most of them relatable on some level.
There are also pervading themes that I adore,
namely love and living life to its fullest,
because you never know when it is going to be your
time to go. I think the best way to describe it
would be to say that it's tragically romantic.
And it doesn't have the perfect courtships that
you see in most musicals. There is jealousy and
there are external issues with relationships. It
feels real and moving. Additionally the music is
not your typical show tunes.
Jonathan Larson, the writer, tried very hard to
blend
pop music with show tunes, and for the most part
succeeded.
As for the people who have seen the play and
adored it, I have some advice for you. Do not go
into this expecting the play picked up off its
stage and plunked onto a movie screen. There are
definite changes due to the change of venue and
there has to be. I heard someone complaining
loudly when we left the theater that unlike the
stage production where all the exposition and
dialogue is done in song, the movie makes it
actual talking dialogue. There are moments in the
movie where, yes, this drives me insane. Mark's
opening lines come to mind immediately. I think
this was a necessary change. It makes it more
accessible to a larger audience. There have been
some deletions, some additions, and some very
minor tweaks in the timeline of events of the
play. Overall, however, the play remains intact.
There is only one song that I think they should
have included but they didn't, which is the second
half of "Goodbye Love". They have the initial
fight in it between all of the characters, but
they stop it before they get to the fight between
Mark and Roger.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the
adaptation. I would say despite the changes, it
is fiercely loyal to the play and what the play
stands for. The cast is almost all the original
Broadway cast, and almost a decade after they
played these characters on stage they are still
phenomenal. The two new cast members fit in
perfectly, and honestly I like Rosario Dawson's
singing on Mimi better than Daphne Rubin-Vega,
which I understand might get me hung by various
Rentheads. I just think it was nice to hear "Out
Tonight" without the painful note change at the
word "out". The movie itself is cinematically
beautiful and very poignant. I love it and I will
be going back to see it in the theater at some
point. I just have to convince someone to go see
it with me. My husband has seen it once now and
he falls into the "I don't get it" camp. *smirks*
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