Tick, Tick... Boom! - Review

 

Jonathan Larson is, while not a household name, a person who’s likely far more well known than people realize. While he’s an obvious figure for people in the entertainment world, the name will likely elicit puzzled looks from everyone else. That is, until you accompany it with, “you know, the guy who created Rent.” But that’s not what we’re talking about here. What we’re talking about is a far more specific project of his.

A bit of backstory: Larson died of an aortic dissection in the early morning of January 25th, 1996, the day of Rent’s first off-Broadway performance. The tragedy is, of course, that he never got to see the massive success that came for his show that was inspired by the people he loved and the place he lived. After his death, playwright David Auburn took Larson’s long-gestating semi-autobiographical one-man show “tick, tick… BOOM!” and turned it into a three man musical piece which went on to incredible success and acclaim.

Thus, here we have a film adaptation, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights”) in his film directorial debut, written by Steven Levenson (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “Masters of Sex”), and starring Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”) as Jonathan himself. Garfield is where we’re going to start because, while there’s a lot to dig into with this film, Garfield is an absolute force of nature. He nails the awkward late-20s, early 30s nature of Larson and his starving artist struggles, without ever over or underplaying his more toxic elements. Yes, he’s dealing with a lot, but Miranda and Garfield never let him escape from the fact that it still doesn’t excuse how he sometimes acts.

With the nature of how the film is constructed, flipping back and forth between the “stage” version and a fully played out version allows for an interesting mixture of film and theatre acting that creates an odd concoction of different styles that works wonders for the kind of larger than life story being told. While Garfield is the only major actor to play the same role in the staged and filmed versions present here, the fact that Miranda has chosen to do it this way helps to showcase one of the most important things about Larson; how he saw the people around him.

It’s the kind of story where you learn about someone by seeing the people around him and how he treats them and thinks of them, instead of just giving long speeches about who they are as a person. Those are here too, but they feel emboldened thanks to the film’s allowance of those small, intimate, slow moments. Some are punctuated by music for emotional or dramatic effect, and some are just allowed to be soft and quiet.

But let’s not forget about the stellar supporting cast. While all are excellent, the two who will absolutely steal your heart are Alexandra Shipp (“Love, Simon,” “Straight Outta Compton”) as Susan, Jonathan’s girlfriend, and Robin de Jesus (“The Boys in the Band”) as Michael, Jonathan’s best friend. Shipp is positively delightful and is the kind of character who’s easy to love for numerous reasons, no matter the state she’s in, both due to the script and Shipp’s undeniable charm. Meanwhile Jesus is an absolute force to be reckoned with. He has a heartbreakingly honest friendship with Jonathan and the love the two have for each other is pure and evident in every moment.

Likely the smartest thing Miranda and Levenson have done in this adaptation is making sure that the theatrical spirit shines throughout. Not just in the semi-frame narrative that swaps back and forth between the staged and filmed story, but in the semi-fantastical nature of it all. Musical numbers have some unrealistic fantasy to them because they're musical numbers. While it isn’t a grand spectacle of colors and lights, it finds a wonderful middle ground between having fun with itself and still being grounded in reality without going into Tom Hooper levels of grounded-ness.

The source of that mixture of fantastical and realism likely comes from the fact that, for theatre people everywhere and for Miranda and Levenson, Larson was a remarkable figure. He was the kind of person you’d want to be, working on his dream projects with his friends and somehow keeping all the plates spinning. Regardless of whether you love or hate it, one of the most pure and evident things throughout this entire film is that everyone, but especially Miranda and Levenson, love and admire Larson and want to showcase his talent with as many people as possible. It’s a special thing when someone gets to direct a project about someone they love and the adoration spills out of every pore.

Essentially, “tick, tick… BOOM!” is a wonderful tribute to a man gone far too soon, but more than that, it represents a fantastic debut from Lin-Manuel Miranda as a film director and showcases the absolute best way to do a musical adaptation. It bleeds with emotion and fantastic performances, has some incredible musical numbers, but most importantly, lets itself have just enough fun to be enjoyed by all without sacrificing any emotion or getting bogged down in seriousness. It's a fantastic film that will absolutely tug at audiences' heart strings for years and years to come. 5/5