Still Eggplant

Rent is sort of like the television show Friends, but on crack. No, literally on crack. Or make that smack. Couples couple in all of the many permutations and then they disengage, friends die or get lost, sometimes they get evicted, and sometimes the rent gets paid, and all the while people really live their lives.

I am proudly one of the millions of people who saw Rent on stage. Granted, it was a touring version. But, hey, Nina Simone’s daughter, Simone (natch!) was Mimi in the production I saw. And that was pretty cool. Even so, I often forget plots right after I’ve seen a movie, read a book or watched a show. The details dissipate into the great ocean of life. So, I went into the movie, Rent, with only a vague remembrance of the plot.

It was wonderful. But I have to give a cavaet. It’s a movie you have to give yourself over to. It’s maudlin. It’s cliched. It’s sappy. It’s over-the-top. All of the songs are derivative. It’s just too much in many ways. But if you give yourself over to it, you’ll shed a tear, and you’ll leave the theater with a bit of hope for life. And when I woke up the next morning images from the movie filled my head and snippets of song were echoing in my mind’s ears.

The stories that make up Rent have been told time and again. But that’s the point, in a way, I think. These stories reinforce a story of what we should be as people. So, go see it. Just don’t be jaded. Let it take you on a journey.

Hey, that’s what movies are for anyway!

Not your typical story. Not that easy to encapsulate in a few words. And yet another movie with a gay character played by a straight guy. But we’re used to that. On the other hand the director and writer, Craig Lucas, is the first one to make a mainstream movie about AIDS — Long Time Companion. That was an outstanding movie. And this one stars Campbell Scott, Peter Sarsgaard and Patricia Clarkson, all really terrific, affecting actors. So I was predisposed to see this one and like it.

I wasn’t disappointed. I was a bit discomfitted by the ending. All the reviews gave this movie a thumbs up (or whatever each’s equivalent is). The movie really got underneath my skin. It is quiet yet moving. You really feel for these characters even if sometimes you don’t always like them.

The acting was amazing. I really believed each of the characters. Particia Clarkson was just outstanding, but when isn’t she (I absolutely fell in love with her in The Station Agent). Campbell Scott was credible as a high stakes movie mogul. And Peter Sarsgaard was convincing as a gay artist. Alomost too convincing. He and Scott have both played gay characters. And they both do them well. I’m beginning to question their sexuality.

This is a film that completely meets expectations. Though the ending is not probably going to lift you up. But it’ll certainly make you think.