RENT
Rosario Dawson, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascual, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Tracie Thoms

"No Day but Today"

Cinema 4, Greenbelt 3

Woot, I've always loved musicals and plays. So I really wanted to see the movie version of this well known Broadway musical. Even if I've never had the fortune of watching the original play itself, I immediately fell in love with all the characters, their plight and their conscious effort to bring forth an important theme, AIDS. Their daily struggle to make ends meet. Their personal conflicts in life. Even if the time frame is the early 1990s, the issues involved are still quite relevant to this day!
It is well directed, all the actors sing and act their parts with such vibrant energy, the songs are very well developed with powerful lyrics, the setting in the bohemian part of New York is very distinct. I loved it and can't wait to download all of the songs from the soundtrack. Ooops I meant to buy the CD. :D
I was pleasantly surprised to hear Rosario Dawson sing, she has the lungs for it. The rest of the cast are familiar to me in some ways or another as I have followed their acting/musical career through the years. Jesse L. Martin (from Ally McBeal fame) is a very beautiful man and has a pleasant voice too. My favorite character would be Angel, the drag queen stricken with AIDS yet she still has an aura about her. Her beautiful spirit shines out. Such a lovely inspirational human being too!
Yes this movie isn't for everyone because you really need to have a knack for musicals because most of the dialogue are sang with such fervent passion. So please if you don't value such genre, please refrain from even entering the cinema! Don't ruin the ambiance for me like those 4 young people seated in front of me. They kept mocking and laughing out loud whenever a character burst into song. Geez if only I could press an eject button when I am confronted with such idiots, I would be a happy camper.
Anyways, now I can't stop humming this tune:
"Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles in laughter in strife. In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes - how do you measure a year in the life? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love... seasons of love."