-
By Instrumentation
Books on Music
-
-
-
Accessories
|
|
|
|
| 
 enlarge | Directors: Chris Columbus, Jeffrey Schwarz
Actors: Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy Used: $4.50
You Save: $15.44 (77%)
New (43) Used (67) Collectible (2) from $4.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  376 reviews
Sales Rank: 2816
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 135
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: COLD11155D
UPC: 043396111554
EAN: 0043396111554
ASIN: B000E1YVZU
Theatrical Release Date: November 23, 2005
Release Date: February 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 " No Day But Today " May 21, 2008
I love, love this film. I have to say that it is better than the actual play. I saw the play in NYC when Joey Fatone was cast as "Mark" in August 2002. Joey was great. You could tell he really wanted to get into the part. I think he should do more plays. I fell in love with the characters since then. Rent is such a moving story. Roger and mimi are my two favorites. I only wish I could have gotten to seen Adam pascal on broadway. I love his voice. I think Manely pope was there when I went to see it at the theater. Not too sure. If you have a chance to go to the play in NYC ,I would go. you can truly see how amazing this story is. Rent is closing - last show September 17 th 2008 !!! if not the movie is just as good. buy this dvd.
No Day But Today April 6, 2008
I don't have much to say about Rent except for that it was well directed and has a great story line. It's definitely not a "for everyone" movie, but for the right person it definitely tugs at the heart strings. I cannot count the number of times I have watched it and/or listened to the soundtrack. The movie was very well cast and the addition of Rosario Dawson & Traci Tomms as JoAnne and Mimi were exquisite - I actually prefer them over the originals.
Who knew April 5, 2008
I have never seen the play, i wasn't all that interested in Rent as a whole until i actually saw it. I fell in love with this instantly and wouldn't mind seeing the play sometime now. Just goes to show, never judge a book by its cover.
RENT IS MY LIFE! March 1, 2008
Rent is the most amazing and touching movie I have ever seen in my entire life! The songs, the characters and the story are all completely real. The songs are catchy, the characters are colorful, and the story is beautiful. This is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen and it is AMAZING!
 Incredible strong points; major flaws February 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The musical RENT is a film adaptation of a Broadway play. I've recently seen a pretty dang good Chicago production of it. It's got no shortage of heart, lots of energy, and lots of laughs and tears. It's also got some weaknesses that are precariously close to being its death blow. Its flaws don't kill it, but they come close.
The performances are absolutely amazing. I don't have a single critical thing to say about any of the actors.
Musically, I know this music has made the global rounds and it's huge. I don't think there's anything bad to say about the musical score either.
But looking critically at RENT, both as a story and as a film, reveals glaring flaws that keep me personally from falling head-over-heels in love with it and becoming a full-fledged RENT-head. This story has some problems that are both unfortunate and major, paradoxically leaving me with a sense of disingenuousness. Which doesn't make sense considering its origin, where it came from, Larson. I shouldn't be able to call 'BS' on RENT and be justified, and yet I can.
RENT assumes rather than earns its authenticity.
RENT has an unflinching, unapologetic self-centeredness that both serves it and cripples it. It has devoted so much focus and effort into being Gen-X'y, bohemian, and anti-establishment, that it has overlooked having a genuine identity of its own. Its uniqueness is stereotypical. It's confined to its freedom. Its portrayal of village artists and photographers is obvious, clunky, one-dimensional, cliche. The film is far too self-congratulatory to even consider noticing this.
RENT is trying (plaintively?) to make its characters' last year on Earth a celebration, but the thing is, I feel like a terrible situation of tremendous gravity, urgency, and despair has been turned into something of a 3-ring circus. On some level I feel like I have to question how seriously this was meant to be taken. Only its origin saves it from being creatively bankrupt. The exact same story coming from any Hollywood writer would rightfully get burned at the stake. Ultimately, these decisions ARE Larson's prerogative. I guess that being homeless and your imminent AIDS-related death doesn't automatically require an uptight documentary-style treatment.
RENT's excessive prettiness is also a big detriment to the film's authenticity, honestly. These people are awfully beautiful to be homeless AIDS victims. These are all designer characters. Their appearance is a deliberate, calculated, manicured image designed to make the idea more digestible. I rather suspect some watch this so they can feel like they've adopted some of the suffering of an underprivileged group of people. Do those individuals spend any actual time with the homeless? Who's to say. This mentality has infected other visual aspects of the film, too. Everything is so manicured and staged it becomes false. Everything is designer and Hollywood and perfect, including--nay, ESPECIALLY the abandoned buildings and alleys. The cinematography is a technical masterpiece and everything happens much too perfectly for me to believe in the world of RENT. It's not to be unexpected in a musical, but the nature of the subject matter changes the game quite a bit. Would I apply that equally to all films everywhere? Unfortunately, we're in the territory of art criticism here and it's subjective--and context matters, so no. For instance, Chicago has all the exact same traits, but they work for the film it instead of against it. And, say, a maverick cop out to kick some butt lacking authenticity is an entirely different ball game than being fake about THIS.
The entire scene with Sarah Silverman is the epitome of what I'm talking about. It fails to be the stark contrast with the rest of the film that it's trying to be. Furthermore, the entire subplot is an absurd non sequitur, but that's beside the point. It's trying to contrast how perfectly neat and tidy this corporate world is with how free and loose the world of the rest of the film is, but the entire film is actually neat and tidy--the spontaneity and freedom are artificial. I don't buy it.
But thanks to the performances, damn, RENT sure does have a fire in its britches.
In a way, it is simultaneously justified and questionable to call this film fakey, as it is just Jonathon Larson's feelings on the subject rendered in musical form. It really has an energy to it, no denying that. It really challenges you to drop your hangups and relax and enjoy the ride.
I'm not a RENT-head, nor do I hate it. I don't think it's mediocre, canned, or kitsch. I don't think it's amazing or enlightening. Calling it pretentious isn't exactly fair, though there is a pretentiousness to it. I do, however, feel confident in saying both that it has flaws and has something to it.
So, how you feel about RENT will always come down to how deeply you connect to the characters and how much you're feeling the music. Is it an electrifying, heartbreaking celebration of life and love, or is it a mockery? Both cases could be made. My bottom line opinion: RENT is successful in spite of itself. The actors work harder than they should have to to sell a story that's working against them, confined by excessively stiff character molds--and they are so good, they pull it off. What's strong is incredibly strong. But to pretend its flaws didn't exist would be, for me, an intellectual suicide.
|
|
|
| |
