Rent DVD Review:

Although it may not seem that long ago, the 1990’s had completely different issues than the ones the world faces today. If only in slight ways, things have changed dramatically, which is why a film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, Rent, is a different story now than it was when it was first made. Had this film been made soon after the success of the stage musical, I have no doubt that it would have been a great success. Topics like AIDS and homosexuality were controversial and edgy, and the rock opera style had never been captured so perfectly, but flash forward to the time when the film was actually made, and suddenly the hip music is not as hip, and the topics are somewhat irrelevant.

The difficulty with adapting a rock opera into a film is that it seems a great deal like a music video, but it is still a musical, which has never been a cutting edge form of entertainment. The other problem with Rent is that it simply reads better from a distance. Theater allows us the space to give the actors the freedom to be big. Not only does Rent use many of the same stage actors in the film, but it is directed by Chris Columbus, who has recently made a name for himself by adapting with extreme precision even when it hurts the final product. The camera brings us inches from the actors as the bellow the lyrics, and suddenly the melodrama becomes all that more apparent.

Based on Puccini’s La Boheme, Jonathan Larson’s Rent is a modern telling of a group of struggling bohemians and artist trying to survive in the dawn of the 1990’s. Although the lower east side has since been cleaned up, at the time there was a large problem with homeless people and squatters. These are the characters which make up the cast of Rent. Together they fight the system, which is represented by an old friend, Benny (Taye Diggs) who has sold out and now threatens to kick them out of their home without the rent money. There are also a number of romantic relationships, which seem to insist either AIDS or homosexuality around every turn.

The music is what truly makes Rent what it is. Although the film version is not an opera in the traditional sense, and dialogue is allowed, the music is still the driving force of the story. The Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical still has the same music that audiences fell in love with in the first place. It may not be the same as fans remember first seeing it, but it also is never horrible. This film adaptation is still light years ahead of the recent adaptation of The Producers.

The special edition DVD of the film will be an exciting addition for all fans of the musical, even if they are not extremely excited about the film itself. While the first disc has the film, and a commentary track by Chris Columbus and select cast, the second disc is much more focused on the original material. Disc two has a feature length documentary about the creation of Rent. Because of the unfortunate demise of Jonathan Larson the first part of this five part documentary focuses on his life, and what made him tick. From there the documentary goes through all of the steps it took to make Rent the hit that it was. Only the last part of the documentary touches upon the film adaptation, and that is the least interesting part.

The special features also include two PSAs, one for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation and one for the National Marfan Foundation, and five deleted scenes. A few of the deleted scenes include musical numbers left out of the film, but they are mostly just songs that were removed because they were originally placed in the story to help it move along without dialogue. These deleted scenes also come with optional commentary tracks.

Ryan Izay