tick, tick... BOOM! Review

Coline Coubat '22 shares her impressions of the Netfilx film tick, tick... BOOM!

If you were on Netflix at any point throughout November or December, you most likely saw small clips or stills of the film tick, tick... BOOM! on your home page somewhere. The movie, directed by Lin Manuel Miranda (creator of Hamilton), is the cinematic interpretation of a semi-autobiographical musical of the same name, written by Jonathan Larson. The lead role is played by Andrew Garfield, who learned to sing just for the role, and other cast members include Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp, and Robin de Jesus.

As someone who loves musicals, adores movies, and was dying to find a reason to not do their work, I dived into this movie unsure about what to expect other than perhaps awkward singing by Garfield and an ‘eh’ movie that I’d eventually just remember in the back of my mind as, overall, ‘nice.’

Instead, I watched the credits begin to roll while hearing several of the songs and lines from the movie in my head. With his directorial debut, Miranda was able to create a film that presents the challenges of creating and being committed to art, the difficulty of friendship, and the confusion of simply living.

From the moment Jonathan Larson takes on the stage in the opening scene, one can tell that Garfield was able to fully give in to his role; though this is obviously his job, as an actor, there was a magic that Garfield was able to present through his acting, a connection, that isn’t seen in the majority of other popular films that came out in the past year. Garfield’s performance leads the audience through Larson’s internal debates where he questions everything, his confusion as to what should be prioritized in society during the AIDS epidemic, and his loss as to what is more important to him. And right until the very last moment of the movie, Garfield is able to capture the viewer and keep them sucked into his mind. Currently, rumors are the actor might even obtain a nomination at the Oscars for the film.

In addition, the fact that Garfield learned to sing for the film makes his performance even more impressive; we’ve seen actors try musicals and sing in films (see Les Misérables or Cats), and for the results to be not great.

As a musical film, tick, tick... BOOM! stands out to me because of how seamless some of the transitions feel between scripted film and musical scene with dance. Often, when people say they hate musicals, they say it’s because they don’t understand why they start singing out of nowhere in the middle of speaking, but this isn’t the case the majority of the time in tick, tick... BOOM! Songs like ‘30/90’, ‘Therapy’, and ‘Come to Your Senses’ show smooth back and forth between performances on stage and the inspiration behind the song, while ‘Boho Days’ is able to show Jon’s love for music, creativity, and his use of art to represent even the simplest things and feelings in life. There are moments, nevertheless, when the songs don’t enter the storyline with as much fluidity, but this is usually for dramatic or comedic purposes, as highlighted by ‘No More’, ‘Sunday’ or ‘Real Life’.

Though the film ends with a narrator explaining Larson’s (spoiler) death and legacy, it gives a sense of hope as well as understanding. Time is central to this film and our lives, we want to choose where we spend it and what we do with it, though it feels like there is so little as we watch the minutes and hours slip away. The main character’s dedication and loyalty to his passion is admirable, and, after watching this movie, perhaps more of us will hear this tick, tick, tick that echoes in Larson’s mind, and feel ready to do what we can to spend what we have on the right things.

Final Score: 4.5/5

Image Credits:

“Tick, Tick...boom!” IMDb, IMDb.com, 19 Nov. 2021, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8721424/.