It's 1990 New York City. Struggling writer Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) is having trouble creating a final piece for his musical.
I remember hearing something about this film quite a long while ago. I didn't know that this is that film until much later. For the first thirty minutes, I like the song and dance but it all feels like empty calories. I like the party and song to set up the atmosphere for his group of friends. Bradley Whitford as Stephen Sondheim delivers the first clarion Meta-criticism for both Larson's musical and this film. The songs are swell but there's no meaning. There's no emotional heart. It has no drive. There are no stakes. This continues in the movie for awhile as it lays out the clear raison d'être for his future work. It just takes a person with any self-inspection to see what's right in front of him. Just in case, his agent tells him to write something personal and his performers asks him about his musical. They also don't see any meaning to any of it and that's how I felt about the movie. The story hits this nail on the head again and again. As far as I'm concern, the film doesn't get its emotional start until the Michael reveal. The following song is the only truly emotional song. Then it packs in all the character arc for Larson. I get what the musical is trying to say. He is sleepwalking through a devastated world for the first two thirds. As a film, it needs to move faster. I still like it and the last third is certainly very compelling.
I remember hearing something about this film quite a long while ago. I didn't know that this is that film until much later. For the first thirty minutes, I like the song and dance but it all feels like empty calories. I like the party and song to set up the atmosphere for his group of friends. Bradley Whitford as Stephen Sondheim delivers the first clarion Meta-criticism for both Larson's musical and this film. The songs are swell but there's no meaning. There's no emotional heart. It has no drive. There are no stakes. This continues in the movie for awhile as it lays out the clear raison d'être for his future work. It just takes a person with any self-inspection to see what's right in front of him. Just in case, his agent tells him to write something personal and his performers asks him about his musical. They also don't see any meaning to any of it and that's how I felt about the movie. The story hits this nail on the head again and again. As far as I'm concern, the film doesn't get its emotional start until the Michael reveal. The following song is the only truly emotional song. Then it packs in all the character arc for Larson. I get what the musical is trying to say. He is sleepwalking through a devastated world for the first two thirds. As a film, it needs to move faster. I still like it and the last third is certainly very compelling.