On our six week quest to catch up on the past year’s movies for the Oscars, P and I finally saw RENT – the Movie from Netflix this week.
P is something of a RENTHEAD, but I actually haven’t had the chance to see the theater production, even though I am a musical theater junkie. I do have the soundtracks and the piano book, though, which pretty much is really the whole thing.
OK, one year ago we swore that we weren’t going to see the movie. The RENT film crew towed P’s sister’s car (we had borrowed it) when we rushed over to my parents’ house that awful night. For all of the panic of thinking the car was stolen and then the $45 ticket, it wasn’t worth it, since the subway scene ended up only being 15 seconds walking down the steps of my old station (this is about 1 hour into the movie before “I’ll Cover You”).
Well, we didn’t see the movie in the theater, and they’re not getting anything they weren’t already getting from us from Netflix. However, I’m kind of glad that we did get to see RENT (in the comfort of our home).
While the movie was not exactly like the show (they dropped three big songs), it did do a good job of portraying the feeling of that time, so in that way it was a success. Having gone to NYU during la vie boheme of the the late 80’s and early 90’s, I can say the squalor was real, the clubbing was real, the death was real. Yet, the music was real, the people were real, the joy was real. Love and acceptance are the eternal themes that runs through both La Boheme and RENT.
Saturday we’re all going to the cemetary for my dad’s one year anniversary. I don’t have all of the words, or all of the minutes. The best that I can do is to cover you with minute memories.
I haven’t seen Rent on B’way, but I saw the movie – I liked it, knowing it wasn’t exactly like the musical, but standing up well enough as a musical movie.
My thoughts are with you and your family, FC.