This space for Rent

April and I went to catch the movie version of Rent on Saturday night.

Broadway musicals are a hard thing to translate from the stage to the screen. Something is always lost in the translation; it's not the director's fault, or any of the actors', but there's just something about that interaction between the audience and the performers that you just don't get with a movie; so it should be mentioned that Columbus had the deck stacked against him from the moment that he decided to put this musical on the big screen.

I don't mean to sound as if I didn't like the movie; because I did. The music was well-performed, the actors were comfortable in their roles, and if you like musicals, this was a good one. But having experienced the show when it came to Calgary, then seeing the movie, there's really no comparison.

This is another of the better films I've seen this year, and like the last one, this one will be a hard sell to audiences everywhere. Those who don't like musicals won't like this, and those who have seen it on stage will probably be overly critical of the movie version; whether it's deserved or not. I'm apparently one of those very rare guys (according to April) who a) likes The Sound of Music and b) isn't gay.

All that notwithstanding, if you go to it with an open mind, you'll enjoy it. It's a raucus, energetic film, and if you're at all musically inclined, your toes will be tapping by the time the first song has played its final chords.

Okay; shutting up now.