Fridae

Rent is the latest LGBT film to arrive on our shores.
Bright and brassy, it portrays proud homosexual and transsexual
characters finding love and coping with AIDS in 1990s New York.
The film is faithfully adapted from a Broadway musical created ten
years ago by the then-unknown Jonathan Larson.

Jonathan was a penniless writer-composer who wrote Rent
as a reflection of his own reality. Living in New York's East Village,
he knew many poor AIDS-afflicted artists who became the inspiration
for the characters in story. Tragically, Jonathan died of an undiagnosed
disease just one day before his phenomenally successful musical
opened in New York in January 1996 to ecstatic audiences and rave
reviews.

Rent tells the story of seven friends (three straight,
three gay, one transsexual, four AIDS-afflicted) struggling with
life, love, jobs and drug addiction over the course of one year.
In the face of impending AIDS-related death, these characters refuse
to give up hope. They sing their hearts out and dance deliriously
to a thumping rock score.

The soundtrack boasts unforgettable songs like Light My Candle,
Seasons of Love and I'll Cover You. And pro-gay
carpe diem lyrics such as 'There's only now/ There's only
here/ Give in to love/ Or live in fear' are literally words to live
by.

Having seen the stage version in New York eight years ago, I can
tell you that the film adaptation is just as terrific as the stage
original.

The music sizzles, the choreography dazzles and the acting shines.
The only disappointing note in the entire film is that director
Chris Columbus may have been too faithful in his adaptation, occasionally
allowing the actors to reprise their old stage routines instead
of devising something new and more cinematically exciting.

But that is only a small gripe. Rent is undeniably first-rate
LGBT entertainment.