Andrew Garfield ends up being perfect as the gregarious, endlessly optimistic, stubborn, and ridiculously talented Johnathan Larson. And the wunderkind Lin-Manuel Miranda is the perfect director to bring it to the screen. Larson is mythical in musical theater and this autobiographical work which really found an audience after his death and after his magnum opus Rent was a sensation is an idiosyncratic tale about the passion to write musicals. But in the hands of Miranda and Garfield and with the voice of Larson, it is just charming and sensational enough to capture almost any audience.
Garfield inhabits the role so completely and apparently effortlessly that he is just endlessly watchable. His charisma is on fire here and his chemistry with costars Alexandra Shipp and Robin de Jesus is off the charts. Garfield is surprisingly adept at balancing the singing and acting together to fill out the entire role and is a joy to see on screen.
And even though tick, tick... BOOM! feels like a proto Rent in both music and theme, Miranda brings it to life in a completely captivating manner. It becomes an ingenious hybrid between the feel of a one man independent show and a film. Miranda knows a little something about being a heterosexual musical theatre genius and his loving treatment of Larson is sensitive and adoring in an irresistible way.
With it's follow-your-dreams message, perfect for Miranda's optimistic sensibilities, tick, tick... BOOM! is a delightfully inspiring and easily watchable film that should be able to win over almost anyone.
tick, tick... BOOM!
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus, Joshua Henry, Venessa Hudgens, MJ Rodriguez, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Judith Light, Bradley Whitford, Richard Kind, Tariq Trotter, Bebe Neuwirth, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey, Phillipa Soo, Phylicia Rashad, Bernadette Peters, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Director: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Writer: Steven Levenson
No comments:
Post a Comment