In New York's East Village in 1989, seven people who are down on their luck meet up and measure their lives in love together. Based on Puccini's opera La Boheme, Rent tells the story of a year in the lives of these people- Mark, an aspiring filmmaker; Roger, an HIV positive songwriter searching for the perfect song; Mimi, also HIV positive, a nineteen year old drug addict who wants to find love; Maureen, a protester/artist, formerly Mark's girlfriend; Joanne, her new "man", a lawyer; Collins, an HIV positive man who tends to get beat up; Angel, another HIV positive man who dresses up as a woman. Together, they all try to survive, despite death and poverty.
I liked Rent for a lot of reasons. The songs, although there were a lot of them, were catchy and beautifully written, so I'm pretty glad there were so many. There were showstoppers like "La Vie Boheme" and "Santa Fe", and other, more deeper songs like "Without You" and "No Day But Today". The characters were believable, and you really cared about them. Not many movies can make you do that. Also, the story was wonderful. It taught a message about acceptance, unending friendship, and living for today. In the words of director Chris Columbus, "Kids need to learn the morals of tolerance and acceptance again."
The transition from the Great White Way to the Silver Screen was done superbly by Columbus and the cast. It wasn't a poor Hollywood retelling, but a way to bring the story of Jonathan Larson's original show to everyone. All but two of the original cast members returned to do this movie, not because of pay or fame, but because they enjoyed what they did on Broadway in the show. Their love for the material shows in the movie, and in the fact that everyone was granted permission to leave their current projects to be in Rent. The new additions- Rosario Dawson as Mimi and Tracie Thoms as Joanne- fit in seamlessly with the Rent veterans Anthony Rapp (Mark), Adam Pascal (Roger), Idina Menzel (Maureen), Jesse L. Martin (Collins), and Wilson Heredia (Angel).
Overall, I enjoyed Rent very much and would like to recommend it to everyone. Although it's rated PG-13, I think children as young as ten would learn from the lesson it teaches, even if they don't understand what's going on. Rent's a movie for everyone, reminding us that love is the strongest thing.