IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)- Page 5
IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
#100re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 11:57amThe alternate ending is 14000x better than the one in the actual movie. I watched all the deleted scenes with my sister last night, and when they were over we were both like..."Um...WHAT WAS HE THINKING??????" What a huge mistake.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
BwayBaby18
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/19/05
#101re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:05pm
this entire film was a huge mistake...
and the reason i back up those scenes beign cut from the movie is because they come out of NO WHERE
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#102re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:19pm
"and the reason i back up those scenes beign cut from the movie is because they come out of NO WHERE"
I think you are right here. I think that the director just couldn't justify the musical numbers in the film - the why people just start singing out of nowhere.
He did a good job of re-creating the period, and, in the actual spoken scenes, the performances were overall well achieved.
I think the big mistake was to keep it all in a realistic setting without having the film being all song.
He got rid of one very important element of the show, those funky and funny musical transitions, and replaced them with spoken scenes.
Then it became a a strange and uncohesive mix of movie and musical.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#103re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:27pm
Word. It was strange the so few musical motifs were repeated (don't even get me started on the fact that they didn't do the "Light My Candle" lines at the end)).
For a musical, there was just an odd lack of actual music. Few musical transitions, very little underscoring. Take Angel's funeral, it was so odd and clinical without the piano vamping "Seasons of Love" under it, and it made the reprise of that song come out of nowhere. Most songs felt like they came out of nowhere, though.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#104re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:52pmActually, getting a director with some sense and a feel for the material might have SAVED THE FILM. The film was doomed to mediocrity the minute they hired Chris Columbus.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
pengwendolyn
Featured Actor Joined: 1/14/06
#105re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:02pmHere's my theory on the film. If the Larson family liked it, and the original cast liked it, than that's all that matters. I quite enjoyed both endings, and I enjoyed the movie. So shoot me.
Backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#106re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:03pm
Here's my theory on the film. If the Larson family liked it, and the original cast liked it, than that's all that matters
That's a very narrow viewpoint.
I've also heard rumblings that the family didn't care for it off the record as much as they did on the record.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#107re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:05pmI haven't gotten the DVD yet, so I don't know the alternate ending well, but I agree that the real ending was..incomplete. But really the whole show of RENT is incomplete. I think if Jonathan Larson were to have lived longer..changes would have been made. Maybe not, but maybe so. All I know is usually I like incomplete endings in books (George Orwell novels, for example) but for a movie? Especially RENT? ...Not so much.
"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."
#108re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 4:20pm
Again, I haven't read all the replies, but some responses:
"The part about your friends is interesting. Are they generally theater people? Because there are plenty of people here who say that this ending would not have worked. I know plenty of people who have seen it (who are not theater people) and actually thought it was ridiculous. So it is difficult to understand how a group of 20 of your friends could have come to a unanimous decision that this ending was better."
All but two are theatre majors. Only four of the theatre majors have seen it on stage. I watched it once with one other person, then again with 8, the ending only with 6, the ending only with one, and the entire film plus alternate ending again with three (so it was 19, including me). I'm watching it again with four more people tonight, two of which saw it with me already and two who haven't seen the DVD yet. AND - one of those people hasn't seen it on stage OR the film in theatres! So I am quite interested to hear her opinion.
In regards to this comment:
"But are you saying this as someone who has seen the show, and "knows," for lack of a better term, the characters, as well as what the show makes you feel on stage? Do your friends know the stage show?
I think what it's about is the people who don't know the show as an entity separate from the film."
No, I have not seen it on stage. However, I do not need to. All my remarks about the film are based on the film alone. People may have seen the stage version, but when we're talking about the movie, we're talking about ONLY the movie. So I only "know" what is on film and that is what counts - because that is what we are talking about.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
Josh Freilich
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/06
#109re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/23/06 at 11:45pm
I just got the DVD, and I gotta say, the film would not have been affected by that ending at all.
I like the original better when he doesn't come back, but you do have a point that it could've meant something that it fades out on the first scene in the beginning.
"How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?" - The Little Mermaid
Fiyerooooo
Swing Joined: 2/18/06
#110re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 9:56amThe producers were just trying to show the ending in the play so they made the actual ending and the alternate one. On stage both of those happen. When i think of how the move was made i want to think about how Johnathan Larson would have wanted it because this was totally his creation. The producers of the movie worked closely with his family so i think that the final product is most likely what Larson would have wanted.
#111re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:00amCapn, the reason I asked if you and your friends had seen it on stage was because I think there's a completely different judgement call made by people who are familiar with the show and people who aren't. That's all.
BwayBaby18
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/19/05
#112re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:04amAlso some one needs to tell Chris Columbus that only being able to see half of a persons face for 90% of a movie is NOT artistic. It is annoying
Fosse76
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/05
#113re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:20am
"Most songs felt like they came out of nowhere, though. "
Isn't the premise of a musical?
#114re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:24amNot really. They have to feel cohesive. It has to feel like it's... normal, for lack of a better term, to just break into song in whatever world you've created in the musical.
#115re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:30am
"(don't even get me started on the fact that they didn't do the "Light My Candle" lines at the end))"
"Also some one needs to tell Chris Columbus that only being able to see half of a persons face for 90% of a movie is NOT artistic. It is annoying"
These two comments totally baffle me...Light My Candle was done in it's entirely exactly like it is on stage...and...I saw everyones face whole, not only half...sooo yeah i'm pretty confused.
The point is, nothing would have made 90% of the critics like this film because if you read the negative ones, THEY HATED THESE SONGS! They hate these characters, the music, the basic storyline so it wouldn't have matered who directed, a lot of these critics flat out said they hate the material. Which pisses me off more than anything.
Sunchips: Best Kept Secret in the chip aisle!!
#116re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:33am
At the END.
"Cold, cold, would you light my candle...."
"Yes, we'll -- oh, God -- find a candle..."
Am I crazy, or were those lines in the movie? It all just blends together...
My DVD is still in the plastic, and I'm attempting to leave it there until I finish a very big paper. I can't put it on and check!
#117re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:38amoooo...thought I heard those lines too...Lord knows i've seen this movie enough...either way, it's not a big deal to me.
Sunchips: Best Kept Secret in the chip aisle!!
#118re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:41amNo...I don't think so. She just starts with "I should tell you..."
Shari Lewis: Did you ever wish upon a star?
Lamb Chop: I once asked Mr. Rogers for his autograph.
#119re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:46amoy, I'm losing it.
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#120re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:18pm
"The point is, nothing would have made 90% of the critics like this film because if you read the negative ones, THEY HATED THESE SONGS! They hate these characters, the music, the basic storyline so it wouldn't have matered who directed, a lot of these critics flat out said they hate the material. Which pisses me off more than anything."
EverythingIsRent, I think I've told the story several times on here about the first time I saw RENT on stage, and I really didn't like it at all. I didn't care for a single character, I thought the score was average--perhaps a bit catchy at times. I felt it was overly sentimental, lacking in character development, inauthentic...I could go on.
Then, a year or so later a saw a...video of the original cast, and I was basically speechless by the end because of its power. Because of everything that was there that didn't exist the last time because of a CAST change. Not much else was different.
Now, if the film was the first time I had seen Rent, I'm pretty darn sure I would have come out feeling very much the same way as I did th first time I saw the show. Point being, good material can be misconstrued by bad film-making, and this film was oozing with it.
Of course, there probably would have been a few that wouln't budge no matter what (for example, those who saw the show on Broadway when it opened and hated it), but I absolutely think it could have been better recevied quite easily.
Also....why does their hating the material piss you off? Aren't they entitled to their opinions as much as you are?
#121re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 2:22pmOkay that's so odd that you say that, cause to me whatever cast I see doesn't matter...the material is strong enough to rise above anything...at least that's how I saw it. And I'm not pissed they have their own opinions about the material or songs ,I guess I take personal offense that they brush off these songs that Jonathan wrote, when he isn't here to defend himself...not sure if that makes semse, but to insult Jonathan's talent strikes a bad nerve with me.
Sunchips: Best Kept Secret in the chip aisle!!
#122re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 2:26pm
I think so much of whether or not you fall in love with Rent (or how fast it happens) has to do with who you see play the parts.
I think I blame some of how long it took me to catch on on the fact that I went in knowing nothing about the show, other than that it involved drugs and AIDS and things my parents had tried to shelter me from. But I've talked to so many people who have had so many different experiences with various casts that I think that *absolutely* has something to do with it. People have got to carry the material in a *way* that makes you fall in love with it. As good as Rent is, and as well as the material stands by itself, the vehicle, I think, is the difference between good, great and life-changing.
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#123re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 2:28pm
"Most songs felt like they came out of nowhere, though. "
Isn't the premise of a musical?
Absolutely not. Is that what you really think about musicals or were you attempting to be pithy?
Any good musical makes the songs evolve organically. The film version of Rent doesn't do this and I believe the lack of interlude music, musical motifs, reprises, and recitative etc are responsible.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#124re: IT COULD HAVE SAVED THE FILM!!! (Rent Alternate Ending)
Posted: 2/24/06 at 3:27pm
Very nicely said, Emcee. I think that there is no doubt that the material does have flaws, and if you don't have a cast that can carry through and tell the story well, those flaws ending up being much more evident than if you see it with a great cast. The experience of the show does often depend on the cast for many people, no doubt. And I think that goes for almost any work, no matter how wonderful. An amatuer performance of a great piece can really prevent an audience member from experience the piece as a whole the way he or she should.
EverythingISRent, I get that. I have to admit, that's part of my problem with this film. With so many people feeling that it wasn't well made or that it didn't capture Larson's vision...it upsets me a bit. I know you feel differently about the film than I do, but it disappoints me to see that the film has not been so well-received because Jonathon was not here to say whether or not the film captured the spirit of his piece, or if it is what he would have wanted. Instead of being angry at the opinion, I'm angry at the film making that I personally feel caused the reaction...does that make sense? I just wanted to clarify where I and I think some of the others are coming from on the issue of this whole film.
Anyway, I personally believe a lot of the negative reaction towards the film is not because of the piece itself, but because of the way the film itself was made. Perhaps that's just my loyalty to Larson's actual work.
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