Foooouuuuuurrrrrrrrteeen Whohohoholle Minutes! That’s how long I had really thought about the musical Rent, basically as long as it’s big famous musical number. However, in the Broadway community, its creator, Jonathan Larson, is a legendary figure, on his way to becoming the next big thing before his tragic death at 35. For Lin Manuel-Miranda, Larson basically was that big thing, starring in a 2014 production of tick, tick…BOOM!. That love of Broadway and Larson makes Manuel-Miranda an excellent choice to help the movie adaptation; who knows better about the inner workings of a Broadway composer than the Hamilton guy?
The title is the noise constantly (probably in reality) buzzing in the head of the character Jonathan (Andrew Garfield). About to turn 30 with no big Broadway hit like Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford), Jonathan’s hit that quarter life crisis in his crummy apartment. His best friend Michael (Robin de Jesus) has given up trying to make art, settling for a cushy advertising job and a high rise apartment. His girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) is contemplating leaving NYC entirely as well. Both of these big life changes also combine with a third: Jonathan’s (hopefully) big break: a workshop of his dream play Superbia which he hasn’t finished yet but is coming due very, very soon.
tick, tick…BOOM! is at its best when Lin Manuel immerses the audience into Jonathan Larson’s overactive imagination and mind. The highs of the movie come when Larson suddenly is hit with inspiration, seeing notes/lyrics right in front of him as if they reshape the world into his own melodious image: diner walls become stages, pool meter markers turn into musical meters, etc. Some Dr. Strange sh*t. Fortunately, Larson’s semi-autobiographical tale is compelling in its own right too: Larson’s day to day emotional complications help feed his inspiration, and more importantly make the stakes of the story more important than just “I’m gonna make it!” We’ve got HIV dread, monetary problems, and Sunday brunch shortstaffed to worry about. The lessons Larson learns are a nice mix of stuff we know (letting go, growing up, etc), and new stuff (a writer’s purpose, for example, professionally).
Andrew Garfield’s been building up to this role for a long time. After exploding onto the scene with his Social Network performance, a couple failed Spiderman outings put people off the scent of how talented Garfield can be with better material. The actor has laid low, taking interesting projects in the last few years demanding more range than superhero franchises can afford. Those choices bear all the beans here: it’s the musical fruit right? Garfield channels that Eduardo Saverin and Silver Lake twichiness, to make movie Jonathan Larson someone oozing creativity, but lacking the discipline to turn it into something coherent or money making most times. Garfield also uses his innate warmth and innocence to instill empathy in Jonathan too; he loves his friends and despises having to choose between his career and them, selling the wrought nature of those decisions Jon has to make. Alexandra Shipp and Robin de Jesus are both excellent as well, taking well know character archetypes and making them specific to tick, tick…BOOM!’s world.
It’s apparently the year of the musical. Specifically, the New York City musical. West Side Story is coming back, In the Heights dazzled this summer, and tick, tick…BOOM! is here to remind you of all the pain, anguish, and exhilaration the writers of those two musicals went through. Plus, it’s got Vanessa Hudgens singing again! You can almost her when she says “Hey boy genius” she’s really saying “Hey Wildcat!”