brittacarlberg
Well, i think i just understood my own taste in musicals a tiny bit better!My best guess for this movie is that it might help to have seen the stage play? For i myself went in blindfolded and boy did i trip on the way through... First the good stuff; i kinda liked the guy playing Roger. The character was unappealing to me - too whiny and brooding for my taste - but the actor did have a voice that i liked and he felt like the only one of the cast that put in emotion and power in his singing. I had an unpleasant feeling with the rest of them, like they were more interested in looking pretty and singing beautifully than conveying emotion, but this one kinda nailed it for me. - Joanne was great too. Good actress, beautiful voice, appealing character, and i have to mention, smoking hot. I liked her! - I liked three of the songs. Not bad for this one! I usually have a painful time trying to find music i like. - The sets were kinda nice in two or three places, especially the main apartment.Angel was a great character that i knew all too little about. The relationship between him and the guy with the hat and the Santa Fe- song was beautiful, despite a lack of buildup. I liked him, but had too little time with him to connect fully with the guy. - The theme. I love the idea to explore the world of bohemians, of unconventional people, of people with aids and how they deal with it emotionally - here thrown into a blender with music to make a movie with endless possibilities! The not so good stuff...1. Most of the songs felt bland and boring to me, with insanely uninteresting choreography and settings, performed by actors that did not put in all that much passion in it all. I felt like that all the way through the movie, with exception for the "One song glory" - the cold metal, huge city and desolate roof matched the theme of the song beautifully. But as for the rest... i'll give an example. Sorry, girl - showing your face between another girls legs and glaring at strangers is not empowering or meaningful here. It could have been, with some buildup - make those strangers explicit homophobes for example, not just random old white guys with money. In this context, it was mostly like a seventeen year old girl proclaiming "I am complex, you know! Look, i can even touch and kiss other girls! I am a girl whom likes girls! Those lesbian people only kiss other girls to get men turned on, right? Did i mention i was complex?!" 2. Most of the characters were bland, stupid, selfish or otherwise annoyed me. I guess Maureen was supposed to be somewhat likable but i kinda wished for her to die in a car accident all the way through... i got the impression of a selfish ... that was all too happy to have other people do everything for her. Get a job and get your head out of your backside, lady. Oh, and Joanne, God - you deserve so much better! Most of the others lacked any kind of grounded personality, so all i had left was my annoyance at those whining slackers.3. The overall message. I am a bit of a hippie myself but by god - Boo Hoo, we are being evicted after living rent free for two years, but screw you in the end because we do not need your charity, we are artists! Artists that haven't produced anything in over a year... GET A JOB YOU LAZY MORONS!!! The message kinda made me angry, yes... 4. A complete absence of any kind of red thread. So.. you saw your friend beneath your window, gave him the key, and show only slight annoyance at the fact that he then disappears for 14 hours? Alright, so you people know each other i guess... and i do not get any kind of emotional connection between a single one of you, you just tell me verbally how you feel about each other. Alright... I guess this Angel guy was the glue that kept all of you together even though you have never shown us that in any way. Sure... By they way, most of you have aids or are HIV-positive. It would have been kinda nice if you had established that Angel was further down the path to death than the rest of you, that way my reaction to his death might have been something more than "Eh?" 5. The songs were just... songs. In Wicked, Defying gravity is a powerful moment were Elphabas desires, frustration and situation finally streams out in a beautiful, powerful and inspiring scene. In Les Miserables, Who am i? is a song where Jean Valjean has to put the peace of his soul and his newfound good nature against his fear of once again going to prison. In Rent, well, some of the songs show how the characters feel - without any kind of buildup, making them lack any kind of punch or emotional impact for my part. My reaction varied from "Okay?" to "What the holy Broadway?" It is not enough for me to see Angel, April or anyone for that matter die - if i do not get a buildup, i will not react to it. And what the... was up with that candle lighting-song? 6. All around, huge wasted opportunity. A musical about a deadly tragic illness, love, trans and gay persons in the 80s, the bohemian life style. This could have been amazing. But for the reasons above, this whole thing completely misses the point for my part.
deundrewright
In this timeless classic, viewers are shown the true power of love. It shows the lives of eight misfits trying to make it in New York City. As the movie goes along you got an inside look at what each character struggles with and What lessons they learn. Many times in the movie, the characters learn that love is a very powerful voice that can sometimes save lives. Time and time throughout the movie we see the characters celebrate life , even in the face of death. They continuously help each other up when the other has fallen. This movies is one of the best portrayals of real life events and struggles. The story of Jonathan Larson is a very powerful one. The night before Rent's first preview, Jonathan went to his dress rehearsal, and later went back to his apartment where he died. Ever since his passing, Jonathan Larson has become an instant sensation.
shallowsend-1
I started watching this film thinking I was going to be seeing an interesting musical about people who were not selfish pricks that bring problems on themselves. Instead, that's what I got. I only lasted 30 minutes and then stopped watching it because it was that bad. Horrible acting. The timing of the music and singing was horrid. Even the lip syncing for the singing was off at times. Not to mention the story sucks. The people expect the landlord to not be mad about them being late a year behind rent. I don't blame the dude for being angry. If you want to watch a good musical, watch Repo The Genetic Opera, The Meaning Of Life, Sweeney Todd, or anything besides RENT.
john weatherly
Rent is about to turn into a rant. First off I realize the power of the realism the creator of this went through and that made me want to love it that much more but what I thought the musical was about was a group of free spirits living in a tight knit community where love and creativity flows as quickly as the problems. Then all the sudden they are unable to make this months RENT! The greedy money grubbing landlord wants to evict these rent controlled hippies so he can convert this area into condos and make a killing. How oh how will they scrounge together the couple hundred dollars to keep the music going? Then the movie starts with them not paying this YEARS rent, after not paying last YEARS rent, and NOT planning on paying next YEARS rent... this took a lot of power out of us viewers finding out that the landlord turned off the power on Xmas. I was astonished!!! He was eating the rent AND paying for utilities for at least two years!!! In New York?!?! My God this man must have been made of money! Past tense seeing how he could afford to keep the lights on anymore so wanting to sell a couple plots of land and possibly get some cash flow going. After all this musical does take place in this universe and this universe does need money to keep turning. So sadly they cant get something for nothing. I enjoyed some of the musical numbers and this is packed full of talent. I just really cant get behind their values. You cant get something for nothing even if someone promised that is exactly what he could give you. if the world is ran by hedonist then the world would be filled with love and music and art for one generation. Then someone needs to provide for these adult children. Parents die, the cash cow cant give milk forever. I really want to be all for love and art, but when it comes time to build their Utopia no one was willing to work for it. Which is fitting for their values. If you want to build a better society you need to be willing to work at it so your children or maybe even your grandchildren can have it. This movie makes me feel bad for working to make the world better for my daughter. I wish it was as easy as saying "I'm going to quit paying for things because the world owes it to her children to take it easy" I really wish that was the way of things but that's why the story is awful. Rent Rant Over. Please see this. This is something that needs to be seen as a cautionary tale. I am probably wrong. Maybe its just a musical.
