I don’t go to the movies much anymore.  It’s such a hassle.  And movies that I’m interested in seeing?  They’re only around for a week or two (or so it seems).  But the film adaptation of the stage musical "Rent" was one I wasn’t going to let slide.  I’m a fan of the show — I saw it in 1997(?) with much of the original cast, and again in 2002.

For those unfamiliar with the show at all, here’s a plot synopsis that I stole because I’m too lazy to write one myself:

This story about disenfranchised youth living on the edge of society is the best urban-based musical of its kind since "West Side Story." The two share a number of similarities. "West Side Story," of course, found its inspiration from Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet," and "Rent" traces its roots to Puccini’s classic opera "La Bohème." Both are populated with characters living on the edge of society, with songs driving the narrative.

After nearly 10 years, the musical’s subject matter and location — AIDS and the bleak Lower East Village of Manhattan — have changed dramatically. Thousands of people are now living with the deadly disease due to new miracle drugs, and the Lower East Side has become gentrified. But the movie’s theme remains relevant: young people trying to figure out their place in a world they don’t necessarily respect, or want to be a part of.

The large ensemble cast of angry bohemians includes aspiring songwriter Roger (Adam Pascal); Roger’s roommate and wannabe filmmaker Mark (Anthony Rapp); computer genius Tom (portrayed by Jessie L. Martin, best known for his role as detective Ed Green on the TV show "Law & Order"); Tom’s cross-dressing lover Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who won a Tony for this role); and Benny (Taye Diggs), who betrayed his friends when he married their landlord’s daughter and is now threatening the group with eviction from their seedy loft apartments.

The two new cast members who weren’t from the original group are lawyer Joanne (Tracie Thoms) and Roger’s downstairs neighbor Mimi (Rosario Dawson.)

The plot focuses on the lives (and deaths) of this group of young bohemians, who find passion and love with each other, despite the cruelties of disease and disenfranchisement.  It is, above all, a celebration of life at the outer margins.

For fans of the stage musical, this movie won’t disappoint.  The major songs are all there, as are most of the original cast.  Some of the incidental dialogue, rather than being sung (the stage show really is an opera), are acted as straight conversations, but the movie is almost wall-to-wall music.  The movie soundtrack contained an insipid ballad that was not in the stage show ("Love Heals") — thankfully, it ended up on the cutting room floor.

The "hit song" from the stage show ("Seasons of Love") appears only in the opening number, where the cast stands on an empty stage, belting out the ballad.  The number is apparently an homage to the show’s creator, Jonathan Larson, who died on the opening night of the hit Broadway run.  And it works.  Instead, the running theme of the movie (as well as the movie’s advertisements) is the phrase from another song "No Day But Today", which is more fitting of the movie’s overall message.

The cast is, for the most part, spectacular.  And they should be: they have lived with these characters for a decade.  Though an ensemble work, Jesse Martin as Tom Collins was probably the standout; his screen presence is captivating, and his giddy smile is engaging.  Tom has found love in the cross-dressing Angel, and as a result, his feet never seem to touch the ground.

Director Chris Columbus doesn’t attempt to commercialize the show by making it mass-appealing, and it is very faithful to the spirit of original production.  Only twice does the movie enter the foray of traditional "movie musical" genre: a "dream sequence" during the "Tango Maureen" number, and the celebratory "La Vie Boheme".  These are among the few scenes that are not shot in darkness and shadows, and because of that, they breathe life into the film.

But with that said, the "Rent" cinema experience fell a little flat for me.  Having had a few days to mull it over, I’ve decided that the fault doesn’t lie with the director’s choices, or any of the performances.  The problem is the material itself.  It simply does not translate to the Big Screen as well as I had hoped.   The camera allows the audience to get physically close to these people, and it sometimes doesn’t work, as they belt songs right in the faces of each other.  What’s missing, and perhaps cannot be avoided, is the enchantment of distance that comes from sitting in a theatrical audience.  In the movie house, we become almost too intimate with the characters’ world, so much so that we end up becoming grateful for our own.  At times, especially toward the melodramatic end scenes, we are a hair’s breadth from rolling our eyes and groaning. 

Sitting in the movie audience, I couldn’t imagine wanting to be a part of their world.  Even with "Chicago", which had dark themes of murder and debauchery, it looked like everybody was having fun.  Those moments in "Rent" were too rare, which made the "celebration of life" message ring a little hollow.

But that, as I said, is the way "Rent" is supposed to be.  Jazzing it up as a "feel good" musical and removing its edge would have ruined it.  So, as it is, "Rent" is the best adaption of the stage musical that one could hope for.