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Rent is a 2005 American musical drama film directed by Chris Columbus. It is an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's 1996 Broadway musical of the same name, in turn based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, which is itself based on the 1851 novel Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henri Murger.
The film, which features six of the eight original Broadway cast members reprising their lead roles, depicts the lives of several bohemians and their struggles with sexuality, drugs, paying their rent, and life under the shadow of AIDS in the gritty East Village of New York City from 1989 to 1990.
Rent was produced by Columbia Pictures, Revolution Studios, 1492 Pictures and Tribeca Productions and released by Sony Pictures Releasing on November 23, 2005. The film received mixed reviews from critics and failed to cover its production costs at the box office, grossing $31.7 million against a $40 million budget.
Contents
Plot
The movie starts with 8 friends (Mark, Roger, Mimi, Collins, Angel, Maureen, Joanne, and Benny) standing on a stage in front of an empty audience singing "Seasons of Love". On Christmas Eve 1989, aspiring filmmaker Mark Cohen and his roommate, Roger Davis, learn that the rent previously waived by their old friend and now landlord, Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III, is due ("Rent"). Meanwhile, their former roommate, Tom Collins, shows up and gets mugged. Mark and Roger meet with Benny, who tells them he plans to evict the homeless from the nearby lot and build a cyber studio ("You'll See"). He offers them free rent if they get Maureen Johnson, Mark's ex-girlfriend, to cancel her protest against his plans, but they refuse.
A street drummer, Angel Dumott Schunard, finds Collins, and they bond since they are both HIV positive. Roger, who is also HIV-positive as well as a former drug addict, tries to compose one last great song before he dies ("One Song Glory"). He's visited by his downstairs neighbor, Mimi Marquez, an erotic dancer and heroin addict who tries to convince him to do heroin together despite her own HIV+ status ("Light My Candle").
On Christmas Day, Mark and Roger are visited by Collins and Angel, now in full drag, bearing gifts ("Today 4 U"). They invite Mark and Roger to attend Life Support, an AIDS support group. Roger turns them down, while Mark goes to fix Maureen's sound equipment. He runs into Joanne Jefferson, Maureen's new girlfriend, who bonds with him as they discuss Maureen's promiscuity ("Tango: Maureen"). Mark arrives at the Life Support meeting ("Life Support"). He films the meeting for the documentary that he's making about people living with HIV/AIDS.
That night, Mimi visits Roger ("Out Tonight"). Roger, whose ex-girlfriend died by suicide after discovering she (and Roger) were HIV positive, rebukes her advances and throws her out ("Another Day"). The next day, he joins Mark, Collins, and Angel at a Life Support meeting ("Will I?"). Leaving the meeting, the group imagines what it would be like to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico ("Santa Fe"). Roger and Mark leave to help Maureen set up for her performance, and Angel and Collins reveal they are falling in love ("I'll Cover You"). Maureen performs her song, which calls out Benny for changing who he was after getting married and blames him for trying to shut down the tent city ("Over the Moon"). The performance starts a riot because Benny called in police to make sure the protest stayed peaceful, but it escalates into violence. Once the protest is over, the group goes to The Life Cafe and celebrates Mark selling his riot footage to a local news station ("La Vie Bohème" or "La Vie Bohème A"). Roger and Mimi reveal they are falling for each other, and reveal they are HIV positive ("I Should Tell You"). They kiss, start a relationship, and continue celebrating with their friends ("Viva La Vie Bohème!" or "La Vie Bohème B").
Cast
Main
Anthony Rapp as Mark Cohen, a struggling Jewish filmmaker and Roger's roommate. He was dumped by Maureen for Joanne.
Adam Pascal as Roger Davis, an HIV-positive ex-addict rock musician; Mimi's love interest.
Rosario Dawson as Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive heroin addict and stripper; Roger's love interest.
Jesse L. Martin as Thomas B. "Tom" Collins, an anarchist and gay philosophy professor with AIDS; former roommate of Maureen, Roger, Mark, and Benny; Angel's love interest.
Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel Dumott Schunard, a drag queen and street musician who is suffering from AIDS; Collins' love interest.
Idina Menzel as Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performance artist and Joanne's girlfriend; Mark's ex-girlfriend.
Tracie Thoms as Joanne Jefferson, a lesbian Harvard-graduate lawyer and Maureen's love interest.
Taye Diggs as Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III, landlord of the building in which Mark, Roger, and Mimi live and ex-roommate of Collins, Roger, Maureen, and Mark.
Minor
Aaron Lohr as Steve
Sarah Silverman as Alexi Darling
Wayne Wilcox as Gordon
Anna Deavere Smith as Mrs. Jefferson, Joanne's mother
Daryl Edwards as Mr. Jefferson, Joanne's father
Daniel London as Paul
Aisha de Haas as Blanket Woman
Alternate ending
In addition to four deleted scenes, the DVD release of the film includes an alternate ending, showing all the main characters (including Benny, who was not present in the other ending) except Angel standing in the positions where they were during the "Seasons of Love" opening, all standing in a line of spotlights, with Angel's spot empty. Later in the scene, she enters from the side and walks down the line to take her place, stopping as she passes Collins to take his hand for a moment. Although this tableau is used in the finale of the musical, it was dropped from the film for fear that audiences may have wondered why Angel had returned or why the characters were lined up on stage again. In the commentary, Chris Columbus adds that he "didn't want audiences to think that everything was okay and Angel was alive again."
Differences between the stage and film versions
"Goodbye Love" was filmed in its entirety, but the second half was cut from the film because Columbus considered it somewhat of an emotional overload, as he states on the DVD's commentary track.
The film leaves ambiguous the death of Roger's girlfriend April, who dies before Rent begins. In the film, she is seen reading a doctor's report that she is HIV positive; it is stated that she has died, but nothing more is said. In the stage version, Mark explicitly states that April ended her life by slitting her wrists in the bathroom, and Roger found out about his HIV status in the suicide note. Chris Columbus states in the DVD commentary that a scene featuring April lying in the bathtub with her wrists slit was filmed, but cut because he thought it would be "too much".
Soundtrack
Rent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2005 film of the same name. The two-disc soundtrack, containing 28 tracks, was originally packaged in eight different slipcovers, each featuring one of the eight most prominent characters in the film.
Track listing
"Seasons of Love" – Joanne, Collins, Mimi, Roger, Maureen, Mark, Angel & Benny
"Rent" – Mark, Roger, Collins, Mimi, Benny & Tenants
"You'll See" – Roger, Mark & Benny
"One Song Glory" – Roger
"Light My Candle" – Roger & Mimi
"Today 4 U" – Angel & Collins, & Mark
"Tango: Maureen" – Joanne & Mark
"Life Support" – Mark, Angel, Collins, Gordon, Steve, Paul, Ali, Pam, & Sue
"Out Tonight" – Mimi
"Another Day" – Roger, Mimi, Collins, Mark & Angel
"Will I?" – Roger, Angel, Collins, Mark, Gordon, Steve, Paul, Ali, Pam & Sue
"Santa Fe" – Angel, Collins, Roger & Mark
"I'll Cover You" – Angel & Collins
"Over The Moon" – Maureen
"La Vie Bohème" * – Cast of Rent
"I Should Tell You" – Roger & Mimi
"La Vie Bohème B" * – Cast of Rent
"Seasons of Love B" – Cast of Rent
"Take Me or Leave Me" – Maureen & Joanne
"Without You" – Mimi & Roger
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 175 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Fans of the stage musical may forgive Rent its flaws, but weak direction, inescapable staginess and an irritating faux-boho pretension prevent the film from connecting on screen." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film's performances but criticized its story, writing that he did not believe the film works on its own without "reference to the theatrical version." David Rooney of Variety praised the performances of Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, and Jesse L. Martin, but criticized the film's decision to enlist most of the show's original cast, writing that the choice raises questions as to why these people, "some of them clearly pushing 40", are still "floundering in artsy aimlessness."
Box office
Rent grossed $29.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31.7 million, against a budget of $40 million.
