This review originally appeared on the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s “Roll Film” movie review site (http://www.biketraffic.org/content.php?id=219_0_6_0). Each film was also reviewed by my CBF colleague, Greg Borzo, who focused more on the bike content.
RENT
4 Wheels
The main challenge facing any adaptation of a Broadway musical is how to visually open it up so it stands independently as a movie and not just a filmed version of a stage performance. While 2003's Oscar winner, Chicago, solved the problem by having its musical numbers take place in the mind of the main character, Rent takes a more traditional approach and literally replaces the stage with dynamic New York City locations. In this sense, it's more reminiscent of classic musicals like West Side Story than more recent adaptations.
One technique used to open up the film is to establish one of the main characters as an avid bike rider. This is Mark Cohen: filmmaker, idealist, and broke. He sings the first verse of the title song while riding, and his bike, both parked and moving, is seen a number of times throughout. We learn that the bicycle is core to the Bohemian lifestyle in this lyric from the rousing number "La Vie Boheme," which toasts all that's dear to these alternative Generation Xers: "To riding your bike everyday past the three-piece suits."
Another lyric in the same song sums up the show's theme: "To living with, not dying from, disease." Rent is an ensemble piece that follows Mark and his friends—some of whom are gay, some HIV positive (not necessarily the same ones); many are artists of varying mediums and talents; and, most importantly, all are fully developed and we care deeply about them. While AIDS is a specter hanging over the characters, most of the film is joyful and life affirming. I detest the cliché, "You'll laugh! You'll cry!" but damned if this time the label doesn't fit.
The songs are simply wonderful. Rent, loosely based on the Puccini opera, La Boheme, is both the debut and master work of Jonathon Larson who died tragically, at the age of 35, hours before the play's premiere in 1996. It has since hailed as one of the great musicals of the '90s. Just as Hair has come to evoke '60s youth culture, Rent can be looked at as a summation of its times.
Most of the Broadway cast returns for the film and so perfectly embodies their roles that I can easily overlook the criticism that they are too old for their parts. When rumors of a Rent film first began circulating, it was suggested that either Martin Scorsese or Spike Lee might be tapped to direct. I was skeptical when I first heard Chris Columbus was chosen. Despite his skill in launching the Harry Potter series, I couldn't picture the director of Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire doing justice to this gritty urban musical.
From the stirring opening moments, it was clear that Columbus proved me wrong. His take on Rent may not have been as gritty as Scorsese or Lee's versions, but he successfully made the musical his own. Yes, he had superior source material, but that didn't stop Joel Schumacher from ruining last year's Phantom of the Opera. Rent is the first of the contemporary wave of musicals that deserves comparisons to the classics.
RENT
4 Wheels
The main challenge facing any adaptation of a Broadway musical is how to visually open it up so it stands independently as a movie and not just a filmed version of a stage performance. While 2003's Oscar winner, Chicago, solved the problem by having its musical numbers take place in the mind of the main character, Rent takes a more traditional approach and literally replaces the stage with dynamic New York City locations. In this sense, it's more reminiscent of classic musicals like West Side Story than more recent adaptations.
One technique used to open up the film is to establish one of the main characters as an avid bike rider. This is Mark Cohen: filmmaker, idealist, and broke. He sings the first verse of the title song while riding, and his bike, both parked and moving, is seen a number of times throughout. We learn that the bicycle is core to the Bohemian lifestyle in this lyric from the rousing number "La Vie Boheme," which toasts all that's dear to these alternative Generation Xers: "To riding your bike everyday past the three-piece suits."
Another lyric in the same song sums up the show's theme: "To living with, not dying from, disease." Rent is an ensemble piece that follows Mark and his friends—some of whom are gay, some HIV positive (not necessarily the same ones); many are artists of varying mediums and talents; and, most importantly, all are fully developed and we care deeply about them. While AIDS is a specter hanging over the characters, most of the film is joyful and life affirming. I detest the cliché, "You'll laugh! You'll cry!" but damned if this time the label doesn't fit.
The songs are simply wonderful. Rent, loosely based on the Puccini opera, La Boheme, is both the debut and master work of Jonathon Larson who died tragically, at the age of 35, hours before the play's premiere in 1996. It has since hailed as one of the great musicals of the '90s. Just as Hair has come to evoke '60s youth culture, Rent can be looked at as a summation of its times.
Most of the Broadway cast returns for the film and so perfectly embodies their roles that I can easily overlook the criticism that they are too old for their parts. When rumors of a Rent film first began circulating, it was suggested that either Martin Scorsese or Spike Lee might be tapped to direct. I was skeptical when I first heard Chris Columbus was chosen. Despite his skill in launching the Harry Potter series, I couldn't picture the director of Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire doing justice to this gritty urban musical.
From the stirring opening moments, it was clear that Columbus proved me wrong. His take on Rent may not have been as gritty as Scorsese or Lee's versions, but he successfully made the musical his own. Yes, he had superior source material, but that didn't stop Joel Schumacher from ruining last year's Phantom of the Opera. Rent is the first of the contemporary wave of musicals that deserves comparisons to the classics.
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