Robert Godberson

Masha Fomitchova

Arts in New York City

David Hoffman

Rent (2005) Film Review

 

Rent is an American musical drama film directed by Chris Columbus and released in the year 2005. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, in turn, based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème. It takes place in the East Village of New York City from 1989 to 1990, and unlike many other popular films based on musicals, features six of the original Broadway cast members reprising their roles. Depicted in the film is the lives of these young “bohemians”, and their struggles with drugs, sexuality, paying the rent, and life under the shadow of the AIDs epidemic.

 

The film commences on Christmas Eve in the year 1989. Aspiring filmmaker Mark Cohen, along with his roommate Roger Davis, is informed that his rent that had been previously waived by his landlord, Benjamin “Benny” Coffin III, is in fact due. While the boys struggle with this news, their former roommate, Tom Collins, is mugged on the way to the apartment. Mark and Roger meet with their landlord Benny to discuss their overdue payment, and are offered free rent if they can convince Maureen, Marks ex-girlfriend, to cancel her protest against his plans to construct a new cyberstudio. However, they both refuse.

 

A street drummer and drag performer named Angel finds Tom (Collins) after getting mugged, and they strike up a quick relationship over the disease they both suffer from, AIDS. Later that same night, Roger, who is HIV positive, attempt to write his “one last song” when he is visited by his downstairs neighbor Mimi, an exotic dancer, and heroin addict.

 

The next day, on Christmas, Collins and Angel arrive bearing gifts for Mark and Roger, along with an invite to a support group for people suffering from HIV/AIDS called Life Support. Rogers turns the invitation down, and Mark agrees to attend with them after he visits ex-girlfriend Maureen to help her with her sound equipment for her protest. He then runs into Joanne, Maureen’s new girlfriend, as they both discuss the promiscuous ways of the woman they have both dated. Afterward, he finally makes his way to the support group, filming the meeting for a documentary he’s making about people living with HIV/AIDS.

 

On the day following Christmas, Roger finally agrees to attend a Life Support meeting with his friends and opens up about how after losing a previous girlfriend to AIDS, he has been closed off from new relationships, specifically with Mimi. Maureen’s protest goes off with a bang and succeeds in calling out Benny for sacrificing his morals and his past for the money he would get from building the complex. The protest, however, turns to a riot when the police arrive, and all hell breaks loose as Mark films it all from his camera. After the riot, the group makes their way to the life café to celebrate Mark selling his footage of the riot to a new station. It is here that Angel and Collins reveal they are falling in love each other, and Roger and Mimi confess they are both HIV positive, and that they are also in love. The first act ends with the group singing the infamous song “La Vie Boheme”.

 

 

In the following year, the group suffers many tumultuous changes. Mark gets a job at Buzzline, the news channel he sold to footage of Maureen’s riot too. After another fight, Maureen proposes to Joanne: They become engaged only to breakup again once Maureen flirts with another woman at the engagement party. Roger grows distrustful of Mimi, eventually selling his guitar and moving to Santa Fe. Angels condition with the AIDS virus gets worse, and she tragically passes away in the arms of his love, Collins. After this, the group is rifted, until on Christmas Eve the old roommates Mark, Roger, and Collins reconcile. Mark has quit his job to pursue his own film, and Collins has reprogrammed the local ATM to dispense money whenever somebody types in A-N-G-E-L. Mimi is found on the streets near death by Maureen and Joanne, and she is brought to Roger where he sings her the song he has written over the past year “Your Eyes”. Mimi appears to die but suddenly awakens. She tells them that she was heading towards the light, but she saw Angel and she told her to go back. Mark shows the final cut of his documentary, and the friends are reunited once again, reaffirming that there is no day but today.

=https://youtu.be/UvyHuse6buY

 

 

Critical reception:

 

Upon its release in 2005, Rent was, unsurprisingly,  a highly anticipated film; Rent the musical is among the most decorated shows on Broadway, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in addition to four Tony awards and three Obie awards. Additionally, due to its dynamic, very real characters and captivating songs, many musical fans were certain it was fit for a Hollywood production. Acclaimed critic Roger Ebert proclaims: “Rent is a stage musical that wants to be a movie musical.” Unfortunately, and quite surprisingly, Rent’s success on screen did not mirror its success on stage. After an unusually convoluted and prolonged road to film production, considering that Columbus’ initial ideas to cast stars such as Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera as leads alarmed many, the highly enthusiastic first viewers of the film had a nearly unified but unexpected response: “Meh.”

 

The film received a rating of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was “generously” given seven out of ten stars by IMBD. The film was never considered a “disgrace” or a “catastrophe” by any means – the overwhelming impression was simply that the film paled in comparison to the show that had inspired it. According to IMBD, “the film is simply a cinematic reminder of how good the show is.”

 

The first point of common criticism given to the film was that it doctored the musical too much. Granted, some parts of the musical were removed to make the film more palatable to a greater audience; for instance, the scene in the musical in which April dies by slitting her wrists was removed to prevent the film from being “too much” for viewers unfamiliar with the story. The film was also released with an alternate, slightly more optimistic ending, which was not very well received by viewers who felt that the story of Rent was not one in which everything ought to end up “okay.” The biggest deviation from Larson’s original musical was the film’s removal of the operatic score, including a number of sung “voicemails” and “tune-ups,” which many considered to be the highlights of the script. Columbus insisted that he replaced song with dialogue to appeal to a more mainstream audience, but devotees to the iconic original felt that this was a mistake on his part, and that it unnecessarily “dumbed down” the film.

 

Another line of criticism, particularly coming from acclaimed critic Roger Ebert, was that the minor character, such as Roger’s roommates and Mimi’s friends, which still had a significant presence in the musical version, became quite lame, faceless, and forgettable in the film. The film’s costumes and sets were also accused of being “cheap” and cliche. Critic Ross Reed even went as far as to state that “the grungy bohemian costumes look rented from a Betsey Johnson boutique sale.”

 

However, it is important to note that critics reviewing the film also had many positive things to say about Columbus’ rendition. One of the most commonly applauded aspects of the film was its well-selected cast. Critics particularly praised the performance of Rosario Dawson as Mimi, but also had many compliments for Taye Diggs,  Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Tracie Thoms, and Idina Menzel. The film was also noted for the energy and catchiness it gave to many of the musical’s songs, including “Take me Out Tonight.” Lastly, critics agree that Columbus’ production made the story of Rent appealing to a much greater audience, as the film is suitable and attractive even to those who are not particular fans of musicals.

 

Connection to Seminar Themes:

 

The seminar theme most clearly touched by Rent is “New York City Characters and Lifestyles.” The characters of Rent embody a range of different personalities and archetypes associated with 1970’s New York City. The story brings together Roger, a musician, Mimi, a teenage stripper and junkie, Angel, a drag queen, and lesbian singer Maureen. Many of the characters are HIV positive, have a history of drug abuse, and are so poor that they are unable to afford to pay rent. However, by portraying these figures as very human, and very emotional, Rent makes viewers overcome their judgements and reexamine their ideas about the very real people that are sometimes called the “lowlife” of society. Rent shows the serious struggles faced by the “Bohemian” New Yorkers of the 1970’s, whom we so like to romanticize, and makes us all reconsider what it is that makes someone worthy of thriving and surviving in New York.

 

 

Bibliography

 

1) “Rent (Musical).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_(musical).

 

2) “Rent (2005).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/reviews/0294870.

 

3) Chbosky, Stephen. “Rent.” Rent (2005) – Rotten Tomatoes, 7 Nov. 2017, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1152276_rent.

 

4) Rainer, Peter. “Movie Guide.” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Nov. 2005, www.csmonitor.com/2005/1125/p14s02-almo.html.

 

5) Ebert, Roger. “Rent Movie Review & Film Summary (2005) | Roger Ebert.” RogerEbert.com, 22 Nov. 2005, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rent-2005.