tick, tick… BOOM! (2021)
Rating - 12
Run time - 121 minutes
Director - Lin-Manuel Miranda
Written by - Steven Levenson
Based on the rock monologue ‘tick, tick… BOOM!’, written by - Jonathan Larson
Starring - Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus, Vanessa Hudgens
tick, tick… BOOM! Is a 2021 comedy-drama musical, based on the stage musical of the same name. Directed by Hamilton creator and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, it stars former Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield as playwright and composer Jonathan Larson, whose most famous work was the musical Rent. tick, tick… BOOM! is semi-autobiographical, as Larson loosely based the original on his life and career. It is set in 1990 and the protagonist is Jon, a waiter who spends eight years writing a musical called Superbia which he hopes will be his big break into becoming a full-time playwright. He struggles with a fear of growing older and that he has wasted his time and effort for nothing.
Alexandra Shipp costars as his long-suffering girlfriend Susan Wilson, a dancer who begins to grow tired of Jon putting his work before the people in his life. Robin de Jesus (who has previously worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda on the musical In The Heights) plays Jon’s best friend Michael, a former aspiring actor who gave up his dream to work in advertising. Vanessa Hudgens also appears as Jonathan’s friend and singer Karessa Johnson.
Stephen Sondheim, one of Jonathan Larson’s biggest inspirations and playwright of famous musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, Sunday In The Park With George, and West Side Story, is portrayed by Bradley Whitford. The real Sondheim made a cameo on a voicemail message in the film. He died two weeks after the film's release.
tick, tick… BOOM! began as a semi-autobiographical rock monologue Larson created in 1992 but did not premiere as a musical until it was revamped by David Auburn in 2001, where it premiered off-Broadway. Jonathan Larson died in 1996 of an aortic dissection at the age of 36; the day before what’d be his biggest success, Rent, premiered on Broadway. Rent went on to perform on Broadway for 12 years. For writing Rent, he was posthumously awarded multiple Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize.
The songs featured in the movie, all written by Jonathan Larson, are exquisite and are performed with such charisma and emotion that makes it a wonder to listen to both in the film and separately.
Andrew Garfield’s performance in this movie is exquisite; it’s the type of performance that is very rare to see in films these days. He brings such energy to the role that I don’t think any other actor could have replicated. It was also a surprise to find he is a great singer and sang on nearly every song in the soundtrack. His portrayal of Jonathan Larson is up there as some of his best work in his career so far; along with his roles in Silence, Hacksaw Ridge and The Social Network.
He has already won Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical at the 79th Golden Globes on January 9th 2022. Garfield is also one of the main contenders to be nominated for Best Actor at the 2022 Oscars because of his performance in this movie. If he wins, it’ll be the first performance from a musical to win the award in 55 years.
The supporting cast is wonderful as well, both seen in the acting and vocal performances. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s direction is good for his directorial debut. The writing is flowing and feels realistic in its dialogue scenes, but manages to still feel theatrical and realistic during the musical numbers.
Overall, tick, tick… BOOM! is a blast, managing to encapsulate the world of Jonathan Larson into a vivid motion picture which has become one of my firm favourites.
Score - 10/10
tick, tick… BOOM! Is available now on Netflix.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/YJserno8tyU
Comments
Post a Comment