Review - Rent (2005)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. And, in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of the original Broadway musical by Jonathan Larson, this is my review of the 2005 film adaptation of Rent, directed by Chris Columbus, and starring Rosario Dawson, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, and Tracie Thoms. 

      The movie opens on Christmas Eve in the year 1989, and focuses on roommates Mark Cohen, a filmmaker who has chosen to stop making scripted material and start filming documentary style, and Roger Davis, a former rock star who is struggling with the HIV virus, which also took the life of Roger's girlfriend April. Mark and Roger live in a loft on the top floor of an apartment building on the corner of 11th Street and Avenue B, which is part of New York City's Alphabet City section of East Village. Formerly residing in the lift with Mark and Roger were Mark's ex-girlfriend Maureen Johnson, who left him to be with a lawyer named Joanne Jefferson, Tom Collins, a gay vagabond struggling with AIDS, and Benny Coffin III, who married into wealth and now owns both the apartment building and a lot next to the building. At said lot is a performance space and a small Tent City encampment. 

         On this particular Christmas Eve night, word gets to Maureen's upcoming performance at the lot, and Benny is sent to collect the rent for the entire block, or evict everyone on the block. Around this time, Collins comes back after getting expelled from MIT, but gets mugged and has his jacket stolen. But, a drummer/drag queen named Angel Dumott Schunard takes pity on Collins, and the two head off together. Benny, meanwhile, speaks with Mark and Roger about cutting a deal: stop Maureen's performance, and Benny will guarantee the duo can stay rent-free in the loft. 

        After Roger reminisces about his past, he then meets Mimi Marquez, Mark and Roger's nineteen year old downstairs neighbor who dances at the Catscratch Club. And, much like Roger himself had once been, Mimi seems to be a drug addict, and while she wants to be with Roger, he pushes her away out of fear of passing his infection onto her. The next morning, Collins finally arrives at the loft, and introduces Mark and Roger to Angel, and Maureen calls asking Mark to help fix the equipment, after which both Mark and Roger are invited to attend the life support meeting Collins and Angel will be heading to. 

      At the performance space, Mark meets Joanne for the first time, and the two looks at how Maureen is pretty unfaithful as a romantic partner, flirting with everyone she meets almost regularly. And, while Mark feels vindicated by the fact that Joanne understands his plight, she merely feels lousy realizing what she's got to deal with when it comes to Maureen. That night, Mimi makes another attempt to woo Roger, but he pushes her away out of fear. 

       The next day, Mark, once again, joins Collins and Angel at the life support meeting, and Roger also joins them. After a subway ride, where Collins suggests opening a restaurant in Santa Fe, and leaving the bohemian lifestyle of Alphabet City behind, we see Collins and Angel fully embrace their newfound relationship. And, it's time for Maureen's performance, which is followed by dinner at a nearby café, which Roger invites Mimi to. And, in the midst to a toast to the bohemian lifestyle, Roger learns that Mimi ALSO has HIV, and the two ultimately decide to take the leap and become a couple. 

         After celebrating New Year's, Mark, Roger, Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, Collins, and Angel find that Benny padlocked the door to the apartment building, and cleared all of Mark, Roger, and Mimi's belongings. Joanne points out that, as they are now legally squatters, they have some time to get money together to pay Benny, who can't toss them out or have them arrested. Luckily, because of Mark's footage of the protest after Maureen's performance, Mark has a job offer from a gossip show called BuzzLine. And, with help from Joanne and Maureen, Mark begrudgingly accepts the job, which he had previously equated to selling out. And , Maureen and Joanne end up engaged, but break it off at the engagement party. At the apartment, Benny makes another rent-free offer, returning Mark, Roger, and Mimi's belongings, but Mark give him the check he got from BuzzLine. 

         After a montage covering the rest of the year, we see Roger and Mimi end up in a rocky patch in their relationship. Meanwhile, Angel's body is failing him, as he begins to succumb to AIDS. Despite the struggles that Mimi and Roger are having, and the same goes for Maureen and Joanne, everyone surrounds Angel with the love he gave to all of them, and he tragically dies in Collins' arms. A funeral for Angel is held on Halloween, with Collins, Mark, Roger, Mimi, Benny, Maureen, and Joanne attending, along with a number of others that lived in Alphabet City. Unfortunately, while Maureen and Joanne reconcile, Roger leaves everyone behind and drives out to Santa Fe. 

        We then get another montage of Mark and Roger attempting to live their lives, and both realize what they have to do. Roger sells his car, buys a guitar, and takes a bus back to New York, where he reunites with Mark, who decides to quit his job at BuzzLine to finish working on his documentary. As weeks pass, Roger, Mark, Maureen, Joanne, Collins, and Benny all have no luck in finding Mimi, whose been missing for weeks. And, it's Christmas Eve once more, Collins stops by, and Mark is about to show his finished documentary. But, Maureen and Joanne arrive with a very sick Mimi. They bring her inside, where they try to get her warm while Collins calls a doctor. Roger and Mimi have a moment, which includes Roger singing his finished song. Mimi briefly succumbs to her illness, but revives, revealing that Angel sent her back by telling her "Turn around, girlfriend, and listen to that boy's song." Mark starts the projector, showing his documentary, and the movie ends with the declaration that there is "no day but today." 

       Rent, for all intents and purposes, follows the plot of the original musical to the letter. While certain plot details do wind up lost in translation, and a number of uniquely theatrical devices that worked on the stage were cut for a cinematic telling of the story, I feel that Chris Columbus did a really bang-up job taking Jonathan Larson's iconic rock musical and bringing it to the big screen. The songs, albeit with a few cut from the finished film, are all well done and the performances are fantastic. 

        One thing that Chris Columbus sought was to bring back as many of the original Broadway cast as possible, and he did, as we get Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia reprising their roles of Mark, Roger, Benny, Maureen, Collins, and Angel from the Broadway show. The only two original Broadway cast members who opted out of the film were Daphne Rubin-Vega, who was pregnant at the time of filming, and Fredi Walker, who felt she was too old to portray Joanne. Their replacements, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms, were both excellent as Mimi and Joanne, and I enjoyed them both. Fun fact, Tracie Thoms did get to play Joanne on Broadway a few years after the movie came out. 

       For the most part, Rent was a phenomenal movie adaptation of a generation defining musical, and I think Chris Columbus did an all-around excellent job making it. But, there were some decisions that I don't quite agree with, and that was in scenes cut. For instance, the movie's opening, "Seasons of Love," has all eight lead actors standing on stage in an empty theater. And, the back end of "Finale B" originally returned to that stage, but started with Angel's space being empty, only for Angel to take his spot and join the rest of the cast. While this would have been a cool bookend to the movie, I get why Columbus cut it. As for the other major cut, we have the back end of "Goodbye Love," where we see Benny paying the funeral expenses for Angel's funeral, which leads Mark, Collins, and Mimi to joke about how it must be nice to have money. After hugging it out, Collins informs Benny that Angel was the one that killed Benny's dog, which he admits he knew about, proclaiming "and, I always hated that dog." After a laugh, everyone leaves the cemetery, where we fade back to the apartment building, where we get a confrontation between Mark and Roger. The confrontation between the two was one of the emotional turning points of the stage musical, and it made no sense to cut it, especially as the sequence ends with Mimi almost choosing to give up on love and life. 

      Overall, I can recommend the movie Rent to the extent that it's great, the music is phenomenal, and despite a few cuts, the genuine emotion of the original is still there. But, I also recommend checking a filmed recording of the original stage musical on YouTube for the genuine Rent experience. 

      Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you in my next review: High School Musical.