Music to my fears
tick, tick... BOOM! Cert 12A In cinemas now, on Netflix from November 19
I★★★★★ t’s been a busy year for Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda with a raft of pandemic-delayed projects finally making it to the screen. Unlike In The Heights, Vivo and his upcoming Disney musical Encanto, none of the songs in tick tick... BOOM! were written by the young composer.
Instead, thanks to Miranda’s sudden rise and Netflix’s lavish spending, he is bringing an autobiographical musical by Rent creator Jonathan Larson to the big screen.
tick, tick... BOOM! started life as a rock monologue in 1990. Six years later, Larson (Miranda’s idol) died suddenly at the age of 35 from an aortic aneurysm — on the morning before Rent’s first off-Broadway preview.
After his death, tick, tick... BOOM! was adapted into a Broadway play (with one production starring Miranda), but the film recreates that 1990 performance and expands it into a full musical.
Miranda’s directorial debut follows Jon (Andrew Garfield) as he tries to finish Superbia, the musical based on George Orwell’s 1984, which Larson laboured over throughout his 20s.
We first witness Garfield’s musical talents as he performs on a piano with a band and two singers ( Joshua Henry and Vanessa Hudgens) to a small audience in New York.
After opening song 30/90 vents his frustrations about still struggling aged 30, Miranda takes us to Jon’s dilapidated apartment and the diner where he waited tables.
As he prepares for a career-breaking showcase of Superbia’s songs, Jon has to deal with money worries, relationship problems with girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp), and losing his closest friends to HIV/AIDS.
Garfield is excellent and Larson’s powerful songs are wonderfully staged.
But the film’s greatest strength is its sense of time and place. Miranda clearly understands Larson’s struggle and his artistic community. It’s his most touching film yet. It also feels like his most personal.
This is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s most touching and most personal film