teiresias: (from <lj user="swankyfunk">)
teiresias ([personal profile] teiresias) wrote2005-11-24 08:23 am
Entry tags:

Movie magic

Dinner: $12. Ticket: $9. Seeing the RENT movie with obsessed fans? Priceless.



RENT again proved the adage: if Stephanie Hack-o-wreck (tm [livejournal.com profile] linaerys, if I remember correctly) hates something, it will be an awesome movie. The woman is simply awful; I can't remember a single time I haven't cringed at her metaphor-soaked prose, never mind that I disagree with just about EVERYTHING SHE SAYS EVER. Of course, in a way that makes her the perfect critic, if only in that she's an almost-completely reliable barometer of how likely I am to enjoy something, just in an inverted way.

Anyway, I never saw RENT on stage, and I haven't listened to the soundtrack in forever, so I couldn't really tell you much of what they changed (I did miss the singing answering machine messages from Mark's mom and Alexi Darling, it's true, and the part where they're hoisting a couch through the window for some reason), but I thought it was quite well-done, all things considered. If nothing else, it made me weep.

Really, I think that's why RENT works so well-- the music isn't all that sophisticated, the basic plot is a ripoff, and there's just not enough development going on amidst the frenetic activity-- but there's so much raw emotion packed into it all that you can't help but be hit hard... well, I couldn't, at least. If nothing else, I think it's sad that Jonathan Larson died before he could acquire the technical sophistication and trained experience to match the potential of his talent.

So, my thanks again to [livejournal.com profile] queueball for organizing the whole affair-- dinner, movie, and all.