Rent

Author's Rating:

Pros: music, cast, clear DVD detail

Cons: none for me

The Bottom Line: 

I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are, my love
~Jonathan Larson

Author's Review
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to see when I started Rent but I had heard so much about it I figured it was going to be a good experience. I would imagine the live performance would feel quite differently but the fact that a good portion of the participants were from the stage show helped this DVD release have a bit more realism.

For those, like me, that are/were unfamiliar with the story, Rent depicts the life of several friends during a one year period in New York City. It is sort of the anti-Friends idea, if you will. The TV show Friends centered around a group of young people in NY but their lives were much different. Although not affluent, they lived fairly well, came from better families, life was just different for them. Our group in Rent are more of the bohemian style, dating back to the late 1980’s era, and their lives are affected by semi-poverty, tribulations, and AIDS. Those milquetoasts from the TV show would have never made it in this life.

The movie begins and ends basically the same way but the intervening story takes many turns along the way. These people lived desperate lives, full of struggle, poverty, disease, and dreams. They live to love and love to live, celebrating their meager lives with as much abandon as possible. Money, although helpful, doesn’t rule this group. Instead they base their lives on their friends and the love they all share for one another.

We get a full course of characters from frustrated musicians to strippers to drag queens, with a radical philosophy professor and a hopeful movie documentary producer thrown in for good measure. Even the surroundings take on a character, helping to portray dismal times and desperation.

I was greatly surprised by one performer, Jessie L. Martin, who played the radical professor. I had for years watched him on Law and Order, never surmising his other talents. Then when Jerry Orbach died I read that Martin had sang at his eulogy. Huh? I thought … who knew. Then I heard him perform in this release and was pleasantly surprised. Not only with his vocal performance but also with the tender abandon he played his part in relation to Angel.

Other stars in the release were Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Tracie Thomas, and Taye Diggs. All gave delightful and well rounded performances, making this musical/semi-opera totally enjoyable.

Directed by Chris Columbus; written by Jonathan Larson & Stephen Chbosky, this released earned 18 nominations and one win. It carries a PG-13 rating for drugs,, sexuality and strong language.

DVD extras include: commentary; deleted sequences; cut songs; optional ending; documentary ‘No Day But Today’; info on the Jonathan Larson foundation.

Overall I was very pleased and surprised, thoroughly enjoying the story, the production, the acting and actors, and the quality of the DVD.

Thanks,
Susi