IR Film Review: TICK TICK BOOM [Netflix]

The path of an artist is beset by the idea of what he believes his destiny is. Jonathan Larson wrote and created "Rent" but died before it premiered from an aortic aneurysm when he was 37. Here he gets the biopic treatment in a specific way in that Lin Manuel Miranda directs his story and semi adaption of the play "Tic Tic Boom" in an interesting meld of vignettes that sometimes hit hard but are, at the same times, jarring. What is utterly apparent is the magnificent and transformative performance of Andrew Garfield as Larson. It is hard to say what level of musicianship he had to learn but his performance and obvious singing melded with acting in some sequences is absolutely superb. While some moments are balanced in a stage format, those work to a point but not as well as some other sequences where Miranda understands the cinematic staging that can shift into magical realism. "In The Heights" tried this to various points of success but only achieved its apex in the pool but reflexively Chu (the director of "Heights") tried to put much more in the frame with a likely higher budget.

While some of the scenes in "Boom" including an impromptu acapella run in Larson''s apartment, two sequences (one with many Broadway legends in a diner) and then a solo scene shot in the middle of the bandshell in Central Park really capture the spectrum of this character and the world Miranda tries to create in the New York of the early 90s around him. The balance resides too in the relationship Larson has with his dancer girlfriend (Alexandra Shipp). While the dynamics of the performance don't necessarily ask one of the looming aspects of it, the pinnacle of it is what fuels an essence of what is missing from the musical Larson is writing: the song of the central female character. That sequence where he achieves this takes place on two plains (it is the only sequence Shipp sings in). It is balanced with the fact that Vanessa Hudgens (who takes a largely unsupported role --- beyond her singing) is the onstage performer at the same time duetting. Garfield plays Larson with a mania that is both blind and open eyed, enthusiastic and yet pessimistic. His ultimate reveolation is that of all artists but one where certain lines pass them by. It is just a matter if there is a next train to catch. B

By Tim Wassberg