The music was great! I really did try to enjoy it but I kept finding so many things wrong with RENT that it made the movie unwatchable. I understand that it’s a Hollywood adapted film from the Broadway musical so it’s not that easy to produce. Also before I talk about all the negatives, there are some parts of this movie to be proud of.

First of all, I’m pretty sure that when the play first came out in 1995, it was the first major musical that gave commentary on the AIDS and HIV epidemic. It’s also pretty cool how many of the main characters were homosexual – one even a transgender. That’s dope! It’s cool to think how many people went out to see this play and root for these characters. Also, I appreciated the narrative of living in squalor and how that included taboo topics like drug addiction and injustice from upper classes. But, there were a lot of parts to the story that just didn’t add up and wasn’t convincing enough.

For example, I WISH I had an apartment like Mark and Roger. Also they went so long without paying any rent in an expensive ass city. They’re lucky and should be super grateful for Benny who makes good points. Instead of having a proper discussion with him about gentrification for instance, they just call him a sellout. Anyways, this is all a part of my point that story-wise, RENT isn’t very powerful. I feel like Hollywood really failed to depict how hard it is to live as a struggling artist. The movie makes it seem fun, exciting, and spontaneous all the time but it doesn’t depict the hardships enough.

One part that really annoyed me was when Mimi was trying to convince Roger to take heroin and have sex with her. Roger denied and Mimi starting singing about just letting go and that Roger should just live life like it’s his last day. Then she is joined by all their friends who sing with her about just yoloing it. What’s the message supposed to be?? The movie makes us want to side with Mimi and the other friends but it’s just wrong.

Speaking of the characters, I felt like very few of them were fully developed. The pace of the movie was so fast it was hard to really connect with some of the characters. I really only liked Mimi and Joanne because they’re characters were depicted well compared to the rest. Tom was pretty cool too and Mark was okay but he made a lot of stupid decisions. He records homeless people and violence because he thinks that’s the way to show the “real world.” Sorry, it’s hard to explain why I didn’t like Mark’s character that much. Maybe he was just made too complex. Like he wants to help his friends and he’s a struggling artist. So he finally gets some notice but then doesn’t want to take offers so he rather continue to live in poverty and make home movies. Idk he’s just stupid.

I also just don’t like musical movies in general. I feel like directors never the get the music right!! Sometimes they let one song flow into another or the transition is super short and in RENT,  it seems too fast and blends into a weird continuum.

I think the movie should have been more gritty and the characters should have been developed more. That would have made RENT (the movie) more memorable and emotional for viewers. Anyways I’m mad excited for La Boheme. I looked up some of the cast on Instagram because I’m weird and they all look like super cool people.