Went to see an advance screening of Rent last night with Will. The theater was filled with fans and for a moment, I was worried that it would turn out to be a sing-along movie night. Apart from a big applause at the first big reveal of Angel in full drag, most people were respectful enough to wait until the closing credit for their own Karaoke moment.
I'm not going to write a big review of the film because I'm sure there are way too many our there. However, I can't help but wonder if the effectiveness of the movie is totally based how well the film is made or because most of us are already so familiar with it and that our tear ducts automatically cued to work on certain scenes?
The film stays very true to the Broadway version. Even the costumes are recognizably similar if not identical. Seasons of Love got moved up as the opening credit, and the hot, hot, hot track, Contact, was left out. I wonder if they're saving it for the "uncut" version on the DVD version? Anyhow, even though I totally expected that this is a musical, it still took me a few minutes to adjust myself to the "musical" mode. Tango: Muarine was my favorite in the movie. It was what I hoped each song is going to be for the film but the rest are pretty much the Broadway performance on film, with close-ups. Nevertheless, I still shed a tear and sing-a-long at the closing credit.
