I am a huge fan of musicals. I love the singing, the dancing, the way they make me feel happy or strong, but while watching Rent, I had a lot of mixed thoughts. I feel like a lot of the relationships, whether they were between friends or couples, weren’t built well. There was no story behind how those people became friends or how those couples started liking each other. I feel like the couples were just put together, and the friends were already just friends. Adding on, I feel like the viewer doesn’t know a lot about the characters’ backgrounds and their histories, so it was difficult being able to connect with the characters. The only thing you could really judge the characters on were their actions being shown in the film, but there are always more to characters than what meets the eye. I want to know more about how Mark started liking film, how Maureen became famous and started protests, how Angel began to realize who she truly was, etc. As well, it was very difficult to take some of the characters seriously. The actor who played Collins plays Joe West in The Flash, and every time Collins showed up, I kept on thinking of Joe. For Idina Menzel, all I kept on thinking about was Elphaba and Elsa. At one point, she even said “let it go”, and I got so excited, but thinking about Maureen as Elsa and Collins as Joe West, is my own problem. Not the movie’s. So, going back to the movie, I liked how the friends were always there for each other. Even though it seemed that in the end they split apart, they wound up banding back together because in the end, their friendships are greater than their differences. I liked that because friendships are truly the greatest bonds ever. I love my friends, I love making friends, and being able to talk to them freely without feeling judged or unsafe is the best feeling in the world. As well, I liked the diversity in the movie. A lot of films tend to add one person of color and say the movie is diverse, but this movie was truly diverse.  Many people of color, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ community, were the main characters. I love when people of color and the LGBTQ+ communities are represented, and honestly, if the group wasn’t that diverse, that would not be realistic at all. New York City is such a diverse city, so you’re going to encounter all kinds of people. Overall, the movie was a 6/10. I would probably not watch it again, but it was a disheartening yet heartening story about friendships and reality.