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Rent
Jun 3, 2005 18:04:59 GMT -5
Post by Jen G on Jun 3, 2005 18:04:59 GMT -5
www.nocommonground.com/renttrailer.movI am most displeased. This looks like a cross between a Lifetime Special Presentation and a telethon montage. Also, as M-A so aptly put it, "I wouldn't even know there was a fag in this." This preview is SO straight that it's offensive. It's polished with the expected Columbus gloss, and there is nary a trace of gay men, junkies, or disease. I think I'll treat this one like I treated Hitchhiker's Guide: stay FAR away so as not to end up bawling my eyes out for the rape of amazing source material.
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Rent
Jun 4, 2005 0:08:46 GMT -5
Post by Noah on Jun 4, 2005 0:08:46 GMT -5
With all due respect, I really think you guys are way off on this.
First of all, if M-A didn't see any homosexuality in the trailer, he really wasn't watching. So straight it's offensive? I mean, there are a lot of shots of Roger and Mimi -- the central love story. But you've also got Maureen and Joanne deep kissing; at least three shots of Angel and Collins embracing, holding hands, and dancing; and several shots of Angel in various states of drag. I think the trailer is pretty accurate in showing this as a love story with gay AND straight relationships. I also read that "Take Me Or Leave Me" is going to take place, at least partially, at Maureen and Joanne's wedding. Whether or not this is a good idea, and whether or not the film's every dimension comes across in the first teaser, it's obvious that the filmmakers are not shying away from Rent's gay content.
It's a preview. A commercial. Of course it's polished and glossy. And the movie is barely halfway through principal photography. How many junkies, and how much disease, would you have liked to see in a two-and-a-half-minute trailer? From what I hear, there actually will be frank scenes of Roger and April shooting up, Mimi strung out, and Angel wasting away. And even the preview prominently shows Angel's funeral -- to which the stage show grants a lot more time than his actual sickness, anyway.
I think you made up your mind about this movie as soon as you heard Columbus was directing. I was concerned about it too, and I really don't want to get too deeply defensive of a movie I haven't seen -- because who knows, maybe it will suck. I just think that all the available evidence shows that it's being done faithfully and well. The last time Rent almost became a movie, it was going to be a Spike Lee joint starring Justin Timberlake and Beyonce. Wouldn't that have been a more severe "rape" of the source material? Surely it's better off this way. Not that Spike Lee isn't a great director, and not that Columbus is. But Rent doesn't need the vision of an auteur; it needs the service of a humble craftsman. It already has an aesthetic. Based on the trailer, from the costumes to the art direction to the casting to the title graphic -- even the onstage "Seasons of Love" lineup -- that aesthetic is being honored. Do you not trust Jonathan Larson's family and original collaborators in their unanimous approval of the movie?
I know Columbus incurred great (and deserved) wrath when he drained the life from the first two Harry Potter books, but this is a different situation. Those Potter movies suffered most because Columbus tried to include everything, with the result that it all got glossed over and reduced to nothing. That's because you can't get a book of that length into a two-hour movie of any substance without dropping more strands than Columbus was willing to drop. I question whether the Harry Potter books should be filmed at all -- to say nothing of Hitchhiker's Guide. But Rent is already a performance piece, just over two hours on stage. No such hatchet job is necessary.
Anyway, I think you're enjoying being cynical about this, which is fine, but don't you think there's plenty to be relieved about here?
Sorry these comments are so brief. I'll try to post more, explaining them in much, much greater detail, after I get my thoughts together.
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Rent
Dec 30, 2005 20:13:06 GMT -5
Post by Noah on Dec 30, 2005 20:13:06 GMT -5
Quite possibly the funniest film review ever: www.capalert.com/capreports/rent.htmA mere sample: "Though Rent is built with highly expressive and some outstanding talents in performance, script and score, what the talents were used for is deplorable. This Clinton-era musical is saturated with practicing sexual immorality, heterosexual and homosexual/lesbian, about which none of the secular reviews I've read said anything. And much of the cast are victims of AIDS."
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Rent
Jan 2, 2006 15:51:53 GMT -5
Post by hblock on Jan 2, 2006 15:51:53 GMT -5
I don't see what's funny about that review. But, then again, I don't think that everyone who believes in God is ridiculous, idiotic, or laughable, so I can see why the humor is lost upon me.
"That's right, I'm a bigot. But for the left, so it's alright." -Annie Hall
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Rent
Jan 2, 2006 17:33:52 GMT -5
Post by Noah on Jan 2, 2006 17:33:52 GMT -5
Um...nor do I. I certainly don't think everyone who believes in God is ridiculous or an idiot. I've never said that I felt that way. I just think the overblown, archaic moralizing in that film review -- especially because it is a film review -- is funny.
"They're all clubs. They're exclusionary. They foster the concept of the other, so you know exactly who to hate." -- Deconstructing Harry
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Rent
Jan 2, 2006 17:57:19 GMT -5
Post by hblock on Jan 2, 2006 17:57:19 GMT -5
From referenced review:
"If you do not want to hear about His Word regarding sexual immorality -- heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian -- close this report and move on. If you do not want to be preached to, close this report and move on. And if you do not like to hear that sexual practices outside of a monogamous heterosexual marriage are sinful, close this report and move on."
This was at the beginning of the review. Why did you continue reading if not to criticize and mock their views? This disclaims itself as subjective and religious from the start. I agree that it's a very biased assessment, but then, so is yours. People deserve more respect than to have their beliefs called "funny."
"He is incapable of an act of faith, and for that, I pity him." -Deconstructing Harry
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Rent
Jan 2, 2006 21:34:28 GMT -5
Post by Noah on Jan 2, 2006 21:34:28 GMT -5
It's not like I wrote an article about this and posted it on the blog. Someone sent me a link to the review and said, "Read this, it's funny." I happened to agree that it was funny, mostly because it takes itself so seriously, so I stuck a link on the message board. I'm sorry if you were offended that I was amused.
"Hey, I can't even make the leap of faith necessary to believe in my own existence." -- Shadows and Fog
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Rent
Mar 1, 2006 20:19:51 GMT -5
Post by Liz on Mar 1, 2006 20:19:51 GMT -5
I just wanted to mention that I just saw the film and I absolutely loved it! from a musical theatre perf. in Toronto, Canada.
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Rent
Nov 16, 2008 1:58:36 GMT -5
Post by wowposter on Nov 16, 2008 1:58:36 GMT -5
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