Movie Review: My Father, the Hero

                There comes a time when you come across a movie that, after seeing the trailer or hearing the premise, you think will be utterly stupid.  But then your friends will come along and practically force you to go see it with them.  And once you've seen it, you realize that the movie wasn't as bad as you thought it would be.  In fact, a part of you has to admit that you actually enjoyed it.  The movie I’m reviewing today…. isn't one of those movies.  This movie is among those that are actually worse than you were imagining them to be.  What’s even more amazing is that this movie is actually labeled as a comedy!  Well, is a comedy still a success if you’re laughing, not because you found it funny, but because you’re left wondering why people found it funny?  Unfortunately, I really don’t know the answer to that question.   So, what movie am I talking about?  It’s the 1994 movie released by Touchstone, My Father , The Hero.

When I read the plot synopsis for this movie on the DVD case, I immediately knew it was worth reviewing.  I mean, we've got this teenage girl who’s on vacation with her divorced father, and her idea of impressing her crush is to spread around a story that her dad is really her boyfriend posing as her father?  Okay, I admit it’s been a while since I was a teenager, so perhaps I simply have forgotten how the teenage mind works, but if you’re going to impress a guy, why exactly would you make him believe you were currently in a relationship?  If he was even worth your time and attention, he would most likely respect the fact that you’re ‘unavailable’ and back off, labeling you as off-limits.  If any guy continued to hit on me after I told him I already had a boyfriend, I’d be worried I was possibly dealing with an arrogant misogynist or something very similar.  Not only that, the whole issue of an adult dating someone half their age is a controversial subject at best.   The very fact that this teenage girl would go about telling people that her father is actually her boyfriend without any regard to how it would affect her father made me seriously dislike her from the get-go.  But, seeing as how some people seemed to like it, I decided to try and give it the benefit of a doubt.

                So, we open with Andre, the above-mentioned father, taking a taxi from the airport to the New York apartment owned by his ex-wife, Megan, in order to pick up their teenage daughter, Nicole, for their father/daughter vacation, which they have been planning for a year.  Needless to say, this movie doesn't mess around and we’re immediately shown just what kind of people we’re dealing with in this film.  First off, Andre arrives with a little gift bag carrying what I’m guessing is supposed to be a present for Nicole.  What does the ex-wife, Megan, do with it?  When she goes into the kitchen area, she throws the gift bag out.  Now, I obviously can’t confirm this, but seeing as how we never saw what was in the gift bag, I’m seriously left wondering if Megan purposely threw out the gift bag with Andre’s gift still inside it.  I suppose there is the chance that Nicole got the gift when Megan briefly steps into her room, but Megan was only in there for a few seconds, so I highly doubt it.

                We then do get one normal scene when Andre and Nicole greet each other.  It’s a very believable moment of interaction between a father and daughter.  Unfortunately, the pleasant moment is ruined with the reappearance of Megan, who found one of her jackets in Nicole’s room.  Immediately, Nicole shifts into a complete whinny brat, accusing her mother of invading her privacy and whatnot.  She even straight up insults her mother, calling her the b-word.  Now, if I ever spoke to my mother like that, I would have gotten a well-deserved slap across the face, but all Nicole gets is an order to apologize, which she refuses to do.  One would think this would result in her getting grounded and her trip with her father getting called off.  Guess what? Nicole is still allowed to leave with Andre, leaving her blatant disrespect go completely unpunished.  Great parenting skills in action here, folks.  Golf claps all around.

Out on the street, Andre tries to help load Nicole’s bags into the waiting taxi.  What does this very likable teenage girl say?  What else but ‘give me the bag, Andre.’  So, now she’s ordering her father around without so much as a ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’  Plus, she’s calling her father by his first name, snootily stating that all her friends do the same thing.  What kind of friends does this girl have?  How many people do you know who won’t call their parents ‘Mom and Dad’ or some variant of that.  The only exception I can think of is if it’s a step-parent or something.  But that’s not the case here.  Andre is Nicole’s biological father, so there’s no legitimate excuse for Nicole calling her dad by his first name here.   At that moment, Megan hurries out of the apartment building, telling Nicole that she didn't get a goodbye kiss.  Immediately, Nicole is all smiles and hugs, complying to her mother’s request.  At this point, I was laughing out loud at the sheer insanity of the moment, wondering if anyone else in this particular family were diagnosed as bipolar off-screen.

                At the airport, Andre attempts to get a jumpstart on family bonding by buying drinks from an airport bar for him and Nicole.  However, instead of showing any form of gratitude, Nicole turns her nose up at the Shirley Temple Andre got her, stating she’s almost 15 and doesn't drink them anymore.  Okay, Nicole, you’re nearly 15.  So what?  I’m pretty sure you’re still on American soil at this point, where the drinking age is a bit higher than that.  There are only a limited number of non-alcoholic mixed drinks out there, so deal with it.  Anyway, Andre takes this all in stride and gets her a different drink.  His efforts are rewarded by Nicole getting a real snotty ‘I just swallowed a lemon’ look on her face and, in an incredibly rude tone, she asks Andre if he invited the woman working at the airport bar to come on their trip, too.  She then proceeds to run off, stating she doesn't want to go anymore.  

Okay, seriously!  What is this girl’s problem?, I could sort of comprehend the reasons for her malfunctions up to this point, even though I think they all called for a serious scolding or something along that line, but this one came completely out of nowhere!  It wasn't as if Andre was blatantly flirting with that woman.  He was just getting drinks for him and his daughter.   What does Nicole want?  For her father to never speak to anyone lacking a Y-chromosome?  More importantly, why does Andre want to spend time with her, anyway?  I know she’s his daughter and all, but so far, she’s being a really ungrateful stuck-up little brat.  Is Nicole supposed to be a teenage reincarnation of Verruca Salt?

                Anyway, we now flash-forward to Andre and Nicole arriving at a resort in the Bahamas.   While her father checks in at the front desk, Nicole catches sight of a young lifeguard-looking boy, and is obviously smitten.  However, that’s not enough to keep her from complaining to Andre about how there’ll be nothing for her to do on the island, even though she can clearly go swimming and lounge around on the beach.  That’s something teenagers like to do, right?  Lie around in the sun, hoping to get a tan?  But I haven’t even got to what she does when they reach their room.  Nicole, seeing there’s only one bedroom, insists that she’s a grown woman and can’t be expected to sleep in the same room with a stranger.  Andre points out that he’s her father, not a strange man.  “You just don’t get it, Andre,” Nicole retorts.  No, Nicole, of course he doesn't get it!  I don’t even get it!  What, are you looking to punish your father because he lives overseas and are angry because he never spends time with you?  Guess what?  That’s what the whole point of this vacation is!  For you and your father to get to know each other again!  And you know what else?  15-years-old is not grown up.  And even if it was, you’re certainly not acting like a grown woman at all.  No, you are acting like a three-year old throwing a tantrum.  Also, you’ll never guess how this scene ends.  Nicole actually forces her father to sleep on the couch.  Andre, I know you want your daughter to have a good time on her trip, but you are still the parent, and she’s the child.  There comes a time when you have to put your foot down.

                The next morning, Andre actually does step up to the plate somewhat when he sees Nicole chatting away to a cabana boy by the pool, which activates his ‘keep away from my daughter’ instincts, something that pretty much every decent father on the face of the earth experiences at some point.  His innate protective father gene goes into overdrive when he sees that Nicole’s bathing suit leaves a good portion of her derriere on display.  Of course, Nicole dismisses Andre’s legitimate concerns by saying he should stop overdoing the fathering because it’s ‘not impressing her.’  Oh, I get it.  Every time my father put his foot down and issued discipline on my brother and me, he was just trying to impress us.  Thanks for clearing that up for me, Nicole.

                Sometime later, Nicole’s down at the beach and runs into the boy who caught her eye in the hotel lobby.  He informs her that it wasn't a smart move for someone her age to come to that section of the beach, particularly with high tide coming soon.  Nicole tells the boy that she’s really 18, and, when asked if she’s here with her parents, she states that she’s really here with a friend.  What follows is a bunch of filler scenes with Nicole and Andre interacting with the other tourists.  When night falls, the pair go to a party were she runs into the boy again.  It’s here were we get the big lie scene, when she tells the boy, whose name is Ben, that Andre’s really her boyfriend, but he has to pretend to be her father because she’s really 16 and the laws prohibit relationships with a minor.  Like I said before, I see absolutely no logic to why she would tell anyone that story.  Last I checked, a lot of young adults go on trips with their parents.  Sure, the teenager might get embarrassed by their parents from time to time and pretend they’re not related, but you don’t see any of those teens telling people they’re romantically involved with their parent.  But at this point, it’s rather clear that Nicole only thinks about herself, so I’m no longer surprised by her behavior, and how she’s not the least bit worried about the possibility that the lie has reached the ears of the other locals.  Which, of course, it has.  Oh, and Nicole doesn't stop there.  When she runs into Ben again during a walk along the beach, she tells him that she was a runaway who stole in order to support her addiction to heroin until she met Andre, who saved her from a life on the street.  At this point, I was once again wondering what was going on in this girl’s head.  First, she’s telling this guy that she’s dating Andre, now she’s telling him that she was a drug addict.  Maybe I should try using that a pickup line sometime, because it apparently works, as evidenced by the fact that Ben now is convinced Andre’s taking advantage of her and decides to do what he can to ‘rescue’ Nicole.

                In the morning, it becomes clear that everyone on the island has heard Nicole’s lies and now, believing Andre is some kind of pedophile, are treating him like a leper.  Not only that, but when Ben volunteers to man the speedboat when Andre rents skis to go waterskiing, he purposely drives the boat in such a way that Andre is placed into danger again and again.  At one point during this scene, Andre is almost run over by a passing boat, and only escapes serious injury or death at the last possible second. Oh, yeah.  This is really hilarious.  Nicole’s lie almost got her father killed.  Ha, ha, I’m laughing so hard, my sides are splitting.  Now, one would think that seeing her father’s life being put into jeopardy like this would force Nicole to wise up and actually start telling the truth, but while she does tell Ben off for endangering Andre, she still won’t come clean.  People, this movie is really making my brain hurt.  So much so, that I seriously considered ejecting the DVD from my computer and never speaking of it again.  It was only the knowledge that I had to complete this review that kept me going.

                Okay, so let’s press on.  Once again, when night falls, there’s another party going on, because, well, this is a resort in the Bahamas.  They have to do something to keep the tourists entertained, right?  Nicole is still in a snit from the water-skiing incident, and even gives Ben the cold shoulder.  Andre, noticing his daughter’s mood, finds confidence in Diana, another tourist and probably the only one in the whole stinking movie who is actually kind to Andre.  Diana provides Andre with a little guidance, saying that Nicole probably just wants what any young woman wants: a little bit of romance.  All Andre can do is be there for her when she needs him.  Diana then proceeds to invite Andre to a Tropical Tiki dance on Thursday, a ‘date’ with no pressures or expectations.  After brief consideration, Andre accepts the invite.

                Meanwhile, Nicole has spotted Ben has reentered the party location, this time with another girl who he proceeds to dance with.  As Ben starts dancing with this other girl, he turns to look right at Nicole, as if taunting her.  Oh, Ben, come on.  Are you really going to pull that childish ‘make her jealous’ card?  We've already established that Nicole is the queen of childishness.  And this is once again proven when Nicole, deciding to counter Ben by using the ‘two can play at this game’ card, immediately walks over to Andre to start dancing with him while glaring at Ben over her father’s shoulder.  Until Ben starts placing small kisses on the other girl’s face, and Nicole storms off in a huff, leaving Andre understandably confused.  Oh, I could go on for hours about this scene.  I realize that these two people are teenagers, and will therefore act like teenagers, but I really cannot stand it when people try to play these kinds of mind games by trying to make each other jealous.  It’s particularly annoying here, because Ben is all ‘I can’t believe Nicole blew me off!  I’m going to start dancing and kissing some other girl.  Then, she’ll be sorry.’  At no point does he seem to acknowledge that Nicole blew him off for a reason. She was still mad at him for recklessly endangering Andre.  For those of you who don’t see how utterly ridiculous Ben is acting in this scene, imagine this scenario: Boy forgets Girl’s birthday, Girl gets angry at Boy and punishes him with the silent treatment, Boy gets affronted and goes to the prom with someone else.   Who would act like that?  No one!  Because it’s bloody stupid!

                And on that note, it’s time for the next scene.  It’s apparently the following night, as Nicole and Andre are wearing different clothing, and are being told by some of the other tourists that it’s talent night.  As they sit at their table, Andre confides in Nicole his issues with Isobel, who he hasn’t been able to reach because of her being ‘out of town.’  Oh, who’s Isobel, you might ask?  Well, apparently, she’s Andre’s lady friend, whom Andre had been trying to call frequently throughout this movie.  Only, she’s not out of town like Andre suspects.  We've clearly seen from previous scenes that Isobel was indeed home when Andre was calling.  However, she simply ignored his calls every single time.  Nicole, however, seems to know something is up, and she tells Andre that Isobel is playing him because she wants to marry him.  Andre pretty much shakes his head and insists that Isobel  is a nice woman and wouldn't act like that.  Um, sorry Andre, but as much as I hate to admit it, I’m in agreement with your bratty daughter in this case.  However, you’re probably right when you claim that Nicole and Isobel would get along.  After all, they’re both women who’ll act like a rotten little snot to get their way.

                Unfortunately, Nicole then proceeds to loose me again.  When she asks Andre if he loves Isobel, he says he thinks he does.  Well, according to Nicole, this means he will definitely marry Isobel and have other kids.  With that said, Nicole claims to have a headache and leaves, refusing to stay for the show. After leaving  the talent show, Nicole runs off to find Ben in order to tearfully tell him “I hate [Andre].  He’s a horrible man.”  

Nicole?  What. On. EARTH. Is. Your. Problem?  First, you’re going around acting like you don’t want to be there with your father, and now you’re acting all wounded because he might enter into another relationship that might produce a new kid or two?  To be fair, Nicole’s claim that being in love automatically leads to marriage does seem to be on par with a teenager’s mindset.   From what I remember of those years, young people think love is all you need to make a marriage happen.  What does a teenager know of conflicting values, priorities and beliefs?  Most teenagers might not realize that marriage is a serious commitment and that it requires a lot of work on both sides.  However, Nicole is obviously old enough to know that a parent doesn't stop loving their children when new ones come along.  Isn't that something a toddler would think?  Then again, perhaps I've just forgotten that Nicole is extremely self-centered and spoiled.

                Anyway, the talent show commences, and the various tourists all go up and perform their acts, from dancing to acting out movie scenes to telling jokes.  Finally, at Diana’s urging, Andre goes up to play a song on the piano.  Upon reaching the stage, one of the tourists in attendance requests that Andre play something French.   Okay, something French, huh?  Let’s see, what song could Andre chose to sing?  Perhaps  La vie en rose, a song that’s widely recognized?   Maybe Je l'aime à mourir, the classic Francis Cabrel song?  He could even sing Alouette, a French Canadian children’s song which, despite the rather disturbing meaning behind it, is probably something everyone who went to a public school had to learn at some point.  Nope.  The song Andre chooses to sing is Thank Heaven for Little Girls, a song that came from the American musical comedy, Gigi.  Okay, first of all, even though Gigi took place in Paris and was based off a novel written by French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, the song itself has no direct ties to France.  In fact, the people who wrote the song  for the movie Gigi were Frederick Loewe, an Austrian-American composer, and Alan Jay Lerner, and American lyricist and librettist.  Neither of those men were French.  Which means the song Thank Heaven for Little Girls is as French as French fries!

                Oh, yeah, and all that aside, remember how everyone thinks that Andre is a pedophile thanks to Nicole’s lies?  Yeah, well Andre’s choice of song has officially cemented that assumption into everyone’s minds, and all the tourists storm out of the talent show hall, except for Diana, who is now just as confused as Andre over what everyone’s problem is.  So, after that little disaster, Andre returns to his resort room to find Nicole is missing.  When he starts searching for her, he sees the resort’s band standing around and, suspecting Nicole is somewhere with the cabana boy he’d seen her flirting with earlier in the movie, particularly after he’s told that the boy in question is ‘with some chick.’ Instructs one of the band members to take him to the cabana boy’s house Well, obviously, the ‘chick’ in question is not Nicole.  Once again, Andre asks then where Nicole is, and they tell him that she’s probably with Ben.

                We then shift back to Ben’s house, where Ben, obviously still believing that Andre is Nicole’s boyfriend, is telling her to leave him.  He even offers to hide Nicole on his father’s boat.  At that moment, Andre arrives to look for Nicole.  Ben immediately goes over and, after refusing to let Andre in, punches him in the nose.   Seconds later, Nicole appears and stops the fight before running off, with Andre hurrying after her.  When he catches up to her, Nicole starts whining and moaning about how Andre doesn't love her anymore and that he’ll run off to marry Isobel and forget all about her.  She then proceeds to tell Andre about the time when he missed her 13^th birthday because he was sick.  According to Nicole, she went over to his hotel with some soup, but instead saw a perfectly healthy Andre getting off the elevator with Isobel.  Thus, Nicole realized that Andre had lied about being sick and chose to spend time with Isobel instead of coming to his daughter’s birthday.  And after hearing that story, I think this is the only time in this whole movie when I actually felt bad for Nicole.  As for Andre, he apologizes to Nicole for that day, and tells her that he could never forget her and that he loves her more than anything in the world.

                A short time later, Nicole finally does something right and tells Andre about the lie she’d spread, about how Andre was actually her lover instead of her father.  To his credit, Andre’s reaction is strikingly realistic, and he flips out on her.  He instructs Nicole to tell Ben the truth, but Nicole insists she can’t do that because she’s in love with Ben, and that he’ll hate her if he finds out she was lying.  Well, I’m sorry Nicole, but you do kind of deserve to have him hate you, especially after all the crap you've pulled so far.  Besides, Nicole’s only known this guy for a few days, and those few days have been spent with him swallowing her lies, being downright nasty to Andre and trying to make her jealous by getting all lovey-dovey with some other girl.   How can Nicole even think she’s in love with this guy?  Ugh, maybe I just have to keep reminding myself that she’s nearly 15 and as a general rule, people that age typically aren't emotionally developed enough to properly distinguish between a teenage crush and genuine romantic love.

                Believe it or not, this is when the movie REALLY starts getting stupid.  I know, I can’t believe it either, but things actually get dumber than they've been so far.  When morning comes, Nicole wakes Andre up, informing him that Ben is on his way over and that she wants Andre to continue acting like he’s Nicole’s boyfriend.  That’s right, Nicole has not only neglected to tell Ben the truth, she wants her father to knowingly play along with her lie.  Now, one would think that Andre would man up and refuse to tolerate this.  After all, he’s the parent and she’s the child, so its Andre’s responsibility to ensure his daughter learns to take responsibility for her transgressions and whatnot.  But no.  Andre actually indulges his daughter by not setting Ben straight.  You know what? I don’t care if this is just a movie.  I expect the movies I see to have characters that are actually believable.  There is absolutely no way that I would believe that a parent would willingly pander to their kid’s immaturity by feeding their lies, particularly when it’s this big of a lie.  Any real parent would yank Nicole into the room and insist that she start being honest with Ben.  But maybe Andre is living under the delusion that maybe Nicole will finally come clean once he leaves the two alone together.  Guess what?  Nicole doesn't fess up.  Instead, she feeds Ben ANOTHER lie, telling him that Andre’s dying from a rare African disease and that she needs to stay with him for his final days.  And once again, Andre neglects to act like the responsible parent and allows Nicole to call the shots by pretending to be bedridden from his illness.  

However, that night, after Andre attempts to contact Isobel, who once again deliberately ignores his phone call, he has a heart-to-heart with Diana, filling her in on what Nicole has been saying about him.  A sympathetic Diana consoles Andre’s feelings of failure by assuring him that he’s a great father to Nicole.  I’m sorry, Diana, but no he’s not!  I can’t let this go.  A good father would remember that his job is to ensure his children grow up right by teaching them dishonesty is not generally acceptable.  They don’t cater to the child when they’re off spreading lies, particularly lies of this magnitude.  Well, at least some good comes of this heart-to-heart with Diana.  Andre vows that since Nicole won’t take responsibility for her mistakes, he will personally make sure the boy knows the truth.  Finally, we’re going to see Andre acting like the competent parental figure he….he’s not going to go through with it is he?

                NO!  NO HE DOESN'T!  The very next scene has Andre regaling Ben about some kind of war wound he got while serving in the military in some Russian war.  Please tell me this movie is almost over!  Please!

                Anyway, Nicole, being the little snot that she is, starts yelling at Andre for taking Ben’s attention away from her.  Once again, Andre instructs Nicole to tell Ben the truth, but Nicole once again says that it’s too late, and that Ben will hate her if she comes clean now.  Andre tries to reassure her, stating that he wouldn't hate her.  Why not, Andre?  Are you saying that no one could possibly hate Nicole?  Because I've hated her from the very start.  Once again, Nicole asks that Andre help her along with her lies by acting like a fool in front of Ben so he will no longer feel intimidated around Andre and start paying attention to Nicole again.  Andre consents by being rubbish at playing tennis, golf and windsailing.  However, Nicole’s plan fails when she and Ben later see Andre playing the piano, prompting Nicole to remember how Andre used to play for her before she went to sleep at night.  This leads to Ben, seeing in her face how much she cares for Andre, leaving Nicole a note saying that it might be best for them to never see each other again.  Nicole is devastated, but I’m not sure what she expected would happen.  

The next morning, Andre is out on the porch when one of the lifeguards runs over to him, informing him that Nicole is in danger.  Apparently, she went out windsailing, ignoring the lifeguard’s warnings of strong currents, and is now unable to return to shore.  When Nicole falls into the water, Andre immediately dives into the water to swim out to save her, but gets a cramp before he can reach her.  Thus, it is Ben in his speedboat that makes it to Nicole first.  Upon realizing that Andre is also in trouble they then steer the boat over to him as well.  In a panic, Nicole calls out to him, calling him ‘daddy.’  Ben, hearing her call Andre that, instantly figures out the truth.  Thus, when he sees Nicole again at a market, he brushes off her attempts to apologize, telling her to just stay away from him.  Trying to get back into Ben’s good graces, Nicole then proceeds to try and write him a letter with Andre’s assistance.  At night, the pair sneaks over to Ben’s house and, after breaking his window to get his attention, Nicole pleads Ben to meet her at the dance.  With Andre acting as her Cyrano de Bergerac, Nicole spouts off this whole romantic spiel about how much she loves him.

                At the dance, Andre essentially snubs all the tourists who treated him like a pariah. (Speaking of which, do they know the truth now?  It’s never stated.)  As for Nicole, she starts to think Ben won’t show up, but then when she starts to give up, Ben finally makes his appearance.  The two go off to take a walk on the beach where they share a kiss.  After witnessing this, Andre makes his final attempt to call Isobel, who once again continues to ignore his phone call.  Until Andre mentions that he’d like to marry Isobel, prompting the woman to fly off the chair and pick up the phone.  The two continue to discuss their upcoming marriage, with Andre stating he wants to have a daughter with her.  Which means Andre is willing to potentially go through this whole crap-fest again.

                Someone PLEASE tell me where this movie came from?  I know I said it before, but it’s worth repeating.   How do people find this movie funny?!  It’s really terrifying!  It astounds me how mean-spirited this movie could get at times.  There was not a single thing in this movie that was remotely funny.   I actually felt really uncomfortable at times.  The really scary part is that there are no real repercussions for Nicole’s self-centered lies.  Throughout the whole movie, she acted like a spoiled brat who never gave a thought to how her actions were affecting others, particularly her father, and yet, she still gets exactly what she wants.  I suppose we were supposed to be rooting for her, hoping that everything would work out for her in the end, but I never felt like that. Not once.  I didn't want to see her wind up with Ben, or make up with her dad.  I don’t think she deserved to get her way.  Just think about it for a moment.  Not only did her lies make practically everyone on the island think Andre was a pedophile and therefore treat him like something disgusting on the bottom of their shoes, it could have destroyed Andre’s entire life.  Any one of those people who heard and believed Nicole’s lies could have gotten Andre arrested and left with a permanent criminal record, which would have followed Andre around for the rest of his life.   His professional reputation would have been in tatters, making it almost impossible for him to find a job anywhere.  Even if that never happened, it still doesn't change the fact that her lies came very close to getting Andre killed.  And if that wasn't enough, Nicole never tells Ben the truth willingly.  The only reason her lies came out was because Nicole had a slip of the tongue.  So obviously, Nicole never intended to tell Ben the truth.   This movie could have been salvageable if they had Nicole finally show a lick of maturity and publicly admit the truth to everyone.  That ending would have at least showed that Nicole had learned something from all of this.  As it stands, however, I seriously doubt Nicole learned anything good.  On the other hand, perhaps she does deserve Ben after all.  After all, we've all seen how Ben will knowingly endanger someone’s life and, like Nicole, is not above utilizing petty and childish mind-games to get his way, as we saw when he started dancing and kissing that other girl to try and make Nicole feel jealous.  As was said in Big Girls Don’t Cry, They Get Even, a rather entertaining family film from 1992: Brats of a Feather.

                If anything, I just feel bad for Andre, but even that has its limits, particularly since it’s pretty clear that he allows people to treat him like a bloody doormat.  When he finds out about Nicole’s lie, he doesn't lay down the law and make sure she takes responsibility for her actions, he actually plays along with her.  That aside, he is seriously planning to marry Isobel at the end, even though we've clearly seen that Isobel is a manipulative hag of a woman who only gives Andre her attention when he lets her get her way.  Even the ex-wife, Megan, who we briefly saw at the beginning of the film.  I’m still convinced she knowingly threw away the gift bag with Andre’s gift still inside it.  You've got to wonder about Andre in this case.  He seems inexplicably drawn to horrible unlikable women who will take advantage of him without any remorse.  You know what this reminds me of?  It reminds me of one of the well-known symptoms of abuse victims, in the sense that some of them actually start to feel affection for their abusers.  I seriously think that’s the case with Andre.  He’s gotten so used to the women in his life constantly manipulating him, he’ll give them everything they want and no longer even attempts to stick up for himself.  Even in the last line of the movie, he’s telling Isobel to make sure the kid they’ll have together is a girl, which, to me, indicates that he wants the cycle to continue and will allow this new potential daughter treat him as horribly as Nicole and Isobel have.  The only good thing I can say about this is the fact that I made it through this film with at least some of my sanity intact, and that after today, I never have to sit through it ever again.  And thank Heaven for that.

                 

Movie Review: Darby O'Gill and the Little People

                Mora na maidine dhuit!  Bail ó Dhia ort.  It’s St. Patrick’s Day, that time of year to show your Irish pride and honor the patron saint of the Emerald Isle.  So throw on your green sweaters, adorn yourselves in shamrocks and pour yourself a pint of Guinness (or a Shamrock Shake from McDonalds if you, like me, aren't a fan of beer) before sitting back and immersing yourself in the sounds of traditional Irish ballads.  But maybe you want to do a bit more than that.  Perhaps you also want to treat yourself to a special movie night to celebrate this day.  If that is what you choose to do, then your movie night will not be complete without a live action film produced by Disney back in the  late 1950s.  This film not only follows an old Irish storyteller as he engages in a battle of wits with the King of the Leprechauns, but it also delves into the culture and mythical legends surrounding the Irish people while showing the viewer some of the picturesque old countryside.  This is Darby O’Gill and the Little People.

 

            The story takes place in the town of Rathcullen, which is located in the southwestern County Kerry.  As the film opens, the Widow Sugrue stops by the estate of Lord Fitzpatrick.  She makes her way to the gatehouse, where the movie’s protagonist, Darby O’Gill, lives with his adult daughter, Katie.  Darby, as we’ll soon find out, is the caretaker for Lord Fitzpatrick’s estate.  At the moment, however, the only one who’s home is Katie, who is in the middle of churning butter.  The Widow Sugrue starts things off by asking Katie for a pinch of tea, but then whips out her sales pitch by commenting to Katie about how the latter doesn't have a husband, and how many women have lost their chance at getting married by waiting too long.  Before all the feminist extremists start reaching for their torches and pitchforks, please remember that this movie is seemingly set during the 19^th century.  Besides, the Widow Sugrue as an ulterior motive in all of this.  Her objective in bringing up the concept of marriage is to convince Katie to consider marrying her son, Pony.  This would, in turn, enable Pony to be able to move into the gatehouse and lay claim to the benefits Darby has obtained from being Lord Fitzpatrick’s caretaker, which clearly is a very prestigious job in this town as Darby and Katie apparently have more than other people in town.  Thus, the Widow Sugrue is very eager to either see Pony become the caretaker or to marry Katie.

            At that moment, Lord Fitzpatrick arrives at the gatehouse unannounced, much to Katie’s surprise.  She hurries out to greet him, telling him that if they knew he was coming, they would have had the manor house open for him.  Lord Fitzpatrick assures Katie that he won’t be staying long enough to need the manor house, and inquires about Darby.  Briefly, a nervous look appears on Katie’s face, but she quickly recovers and tells him that her father had been talking about cutting the weeds around the summer house and has probably gone into town to have his scythe sharpened.  After offering to go and fetch him, Katie dashes off.  Once Katie leaves, Lord Fitzpatrick begins a conversation with the young man accompanying him.  This is Michael McBride, who is played by none other than a young Sean Connery.  Lord Fitzpatrick reveals to Michael that he knows that Darby isn't really getting the scythe sharpened and is most likely off at the inn telling stories.  Their conversation is overheard by the Widow Sugrue, who takes the opportunity to try and promote her son, Pony, to Lord Fitzpatrick, insisting that Pony is better suited to be the caretaker.

            The action now cuts to Darby, who, as Lord Fitzpatrick predicted, is in the middle of telling his friends down at the local pub about one of his misadventures.  According to Darby, he managed to corner King Brian, the King of the Leprechauns, out in the ruins atop Knocknasheega, a mountain that will appear numerous times throughout this movie.  Darby’s story is interrupted when some young man jokingly asks if the leprechaun king had a long tail and a cloven hoof.  Darby starts to comment on how silly that question is, but stops when he sees who was talking.  This is the famous Pony, who is the closest thing this movie has to an actual villain.  Pony is essentially a mix of the local bully and the village’s heckler.  He regards all the stories about leprechauns and other fairy folk as ridiculous blather and essentially dismisses Darby’s claims of seeing a leprechaun as nothing more that hallucinations brought about by too much drink.  After telling Pony off for heckling, the pub’s owner urges Darby to continue.  Darby complies by explaining how, upon cornering King Brian on Knocknasheega, he told the leprechaun king that he would not be let go until after he granted Darby’s three wishes.  King Brian attempts to trick Darby in order to escape, but Darby informs him that he knows all the Leprechaun’s tricks, and that if King Brian doesn’t grant him his wishes, he’ll have Father Murphy, the village’s priest, lay a curse upon the leprechaun.  

           King Brian then relents, and tells Darby to make his wishes.  Darby proceeds to make his wishes, first by wishing for health, then for a big crop of potatoes.  Finally, for his third wish, Darby requests the crock of gold.  King Brian grants each wish with a casual air, but when Darby is admiring his gold, King Brian asks what Darby’s fourth wish will be.  Darby states that he never heard of the fourth wish, to which King Brian insists that he’s feeling generous that night.  Thus, Darby wishes that all of his friends in the village will get a crock of gold of their own.  Once Darby makes his wish, King Brian starts laughing and tells Darby “Three wishes I grant you, big wishes or small.  But you wish your fourth one, and you lose them all!”  With that, Darby’s crock of gold vanishes, as does King Brian.

            We then return to the present, where Darby finishes up his tale.  One of Darby’s friends, Paddy, warns Darby to stay far away from Knocknasheega and not to meddle around with King Brian.  Darby scoffs at his friend’s warning.  At that moment, Father Murphy makes his presence known.  Unbeknownst to Darby, Father Murphy had entered the pub in time to hear Darby’s story in its entirety.  Father Murphy informs everyone in the pub that he had been contacted by the priest in another town.  Apparently, the church the other priest presides over had just obtained a brand new bell for their chapel, and the old bell is being donated to them.  Since Father Murphy doesn’t have a horse or cart, he is hoping that someone there would be willing to go retrieve the bell in his place.  While Pony volunteers his service, he refuses to do the work for free.  Instead, Father Murphy then pretty much coerces Darby into volunteering  to get the bell, by stating that doing this task might even absolve someone of the sin of using the name of the church against the powers of darkness for their own ends.  (Father Murphy clearly is referring to the part of Darby’s story where Darby threated King Brian with the church’s curse in order to get his wishes granted.)  A repentant Darby instantly volunteers, stating that he’d do the task for nothing.  In response, Father Murphy tells Darby that in return for his good deed, Darby will be given the music of the bell.  Obviously, this is a very big deal, if Darby’s reaction is any indication.  To be honest, I’m not sure if getting the music of the bell symbolizes anything, but I’m guessing it means Darby and all his descendants will receive God’s blessing every time the bell is rung.  If anyone has a better idea of what it means, though, please let me know in the comment section below.

            After the deal is made, Katie enters the pub and hurriedly drags Darby away.  Back at the estate, Darby joins up with Lord Fitzpatrick and Michael outside the summer house, where Michael has found evidence that someone had been poaching rabbits.  Once they’re face to face, Lord Fitzpatrick informs Darby that he’s retiring him as caretaker and giving the position to Michael instead.  To make the news easier for Darby, Lord Fitzpatrick will allow Darby and Katie to move into another cottage on the land where they will live rent free.  Darby is shaken by the news, but requests that Lord Fitzpatrick allow him to break the news to Katie.  Lord Fitzpatrick agrees, but reminds Darby that he has two weeks to get things settled and move out of the gatehouse.  

           Once Lord Fitzpatrick leaves the estate, Michael is set to head off to the inn, where he will be staying until Darby and Katie can move out of the gatehouse.  However, Darby refuses to let him do so, and instead invites him to stay up in the loft.  At first, Michael is hesitant, but Darby insists and, when Katie is brought into the conversation, she states that it’s no trouble to give Michael houseroom.  It is at this point where we see there is an instant but subtle attraction between Katie and Michael.  Meanwhile, the Widow Sugrue, who is currently unaware that Michael has already been slated as the next caretaker, is still trying to promote Pony to Lord Fitzpatrick.

            When night falls, Michael is visibly taken aback when he hears Darby telling Katie that Lord Fitzpatrick had only brought him to the estate as seasonal help.  While Michael is no doubt conflicted, he doesn’t contradict the lie and remains silent.  Before settling down to supper, Darby plays out an upbeat tune on his fiddle.  As Darby plays, Michael, as one would expect (hey, this is Disney, after all,) keeps sneaking glances over at Katie, who is busy preparing supper.  If Darby notices this, he gives no indication of it, and simply asks Michael if he can identify the tune.  Michael states that the song Darby is playing is completely new to him.  Darby, upon finishing the song, informs Michal that he heard it out in the old ruins of Knocknasheega, where it was being played by the leprechauns as they danced around in the moonlight.  Michael responds by saying “Aren’t they the bold creatures?”  Katie, I suppose, heard some sort of patronizing undertone in Michael’s statement, as she instantly gives him a sharp glare and coldly announces that the supper is ready.

            After supper, Darby heads off to round up the horse in order to go and pick up the bell for Father Murphy in the morning.  Michael offers to go help him, but Darby turns him down.  Michael them near scolds Darby for lying to Katie about why Lord Fitzpatrick brought him there, but Darby insists that he can’t just break the news to Katie out of the blue.  Darby promises that he’ll tell Katie the truth soon and then heads off to Knocknasheega to get his horse, Cleopatra.  When Darby finally catches up to Cleopatra among the ruins, the horse’s face suddenly goes… there’s no other way to put it… trippy.    I know that’s a vague description for what happens, but I can’t think of a better one.  I managed to stumble across a screenshot, but pictures don’t do it justice.  I have absolutely no idea how the film crew made this effect, but my gosh, it’s incredible.  And this was done without the use of  modern-day computer animation.  Whoever managed to create this effect deserves some kind of an award.

Now, gushing aside, this moment is supposed to reveal that Darby’s horse is actually a pooka.  Cleopatra the pooka proceeds to rear back and ultimately forces Darby to fall down a deep well.  Now, you would think that the fall would have killed Darby, but he actually survives.  The reason for this is because the well was actually the entrance to the leprechaun kingdom, so there’s magic there.  Darby is greeted by two leprechauns who bring Darby to King Brian’s throne room, where King Brian greets him warmly.  Darby soon starts admiring the numerous Irish treasures that fill the throne, such as the throne of  Fergus mac Léti, the gold cup of  Cormac and the sword Brian Boru used to drive out the Danes.

This is one of the reasons why this movie is such a gem.  It’s a tapestry of Irish culture and history.  Granted it could be said that it portrays a stereotypical view of the Irish people, but you can tell that Walt Disney did some research when he made this movie.  For those who don’t already know, Fergus mac Léti, Cormac  mac Airt and Brian Boru were all legendary high kings of Ireland, although Brian Boru is arguably the most famous..

As Darby admires the treasures, he starts to wonder what his friends in town will say when he tells them about what he’s seen.  However, King Brian informs Darby that he can never leave.  This angers Darby, and he proceeds to berate King Brian for trapping him there after Darby did whatever he could to ensure the people in town showed the proper respect for the leprechauns.  This berating enrages the other leprechauns.  King Brian then tells Darby that his right hand leprechaun had overheard Lord Fitzpatrick telling Darby that he was being replaced as caretaker, and that King Brian had ensured that Darby be brought to his kingdom to help spare him the troubles of losing his job.  Once he hears King Brian’s reasoning, Darby admits that he is grateful towards the leprechaun king.  When asked if he would like to play the harp that stands among the treasure, Darby states that he’s rubbish with harps and is much better with the fiddle.  He offers to go and fetch his old violin from the gatehouse, but King Brian is one step ahead of him and gifts Darby with a Stradivarius, which has the reputation of being the unparalleled best string instruments money can buy.  Darby, knowing that there is nothing leprechauns like more than dancing, whisky and hunting, decides to play the Fox Chase.

The next few minutes are rather pointless.  It’s just Darby playing the Stradivarius while all the leprechauns dance around the room.  After a while, King Brian and the leprechauns get so into the song, they all mount small white horses and ride them around the throne room for a while before King Brian uses his magic to open up a hole in the side of the mountain, which all the leprechauns ride through.  Seeing his chance, Darby slips through the hole after them after pocketing some of King Brian’s cache of jewels.  Darby just manages to make it outside before the hole closes up again, but unfortunately the treasure he tried to make off with had all fallen through a hole in his pocket, much to the amusement of Cleopatra the pooka, who was inexplicably waiting outside for Darby.

Back at the gatehouse, Darby is busy in the stables, drawing the curtains over the windows and pulling a jug of whisky off the shelf.  When he notices that Cleopatra is giving him the eye, Darby informs her that he’s expecting company.  Darby’s prediction soon proves true, as King Brian appears in the stable.  He is not happy with Darby for tricking him.  Darby tells King Brian that he only came back to retrieve his pipe.  There is nothing else he wants from his old home and he is eager to return to the leprechaun kingdom.  He goes on to tell King Brian that he doesn't even want the jug of whisky, which he would offer to King Brian except that it wasn't good enough to please the little king.  King Brian, however, insists to judge the whisky for himself.  King Brian finds the whisky to be pleasing, and soon decides that they have plenty of time to return to the mountain.  In no time at all, Darby and King Brian strike up a drinking song as they continue to drink the whisky, although Darby secretly refrains from drinking a single drop.  

It soon becomes clear that King Brian is beginning to drink too much.  So much so that he doesn't realize how much time has passed until he hears a rooster crowing outside.  It turns out that this was Darby’s plan, as he knew King Brian’s magic was hindered during the day.  Thus, King Darby cannot escape the stable and is essentially trapped.  King Brian is enraged that he was tricked twice in a row and vows that when his magic returns when night comes, he will place a curse on Darby for his deceitfulness.  Darby simply laughs off the threats and sets the farm’s cat onto King Brian.   Once King Brian is effectively cornered by the cat, Darby tells him that he’ll call off the cat if King Brian agrees to give Darby his three wishes.  The frantic King Brian agrees, and Darby pulls the cat away.  Slyly, King Brian offers Darby as many wishes as he wants, but Darby informs King Brian that he remembers their last encounter and what happens when you make a fourth wish.  Deciding that he wants to protect his last two wishes, Darby makes his first wish that King Brian will be at his beck and call for a fortnight until he makes his next two wishes. King Brian, again, is furious, but when Darby once again threatens him with the farm cat, King Brian grants the first wish.  When King Brian asks how he’s to protect himself until Darby makes his next two wishes, Darby pulls out a rucksack and stuffs the protesting King Brian into it.  Upon exiting the stable, Darby is displeased to see the Widow Sugrue skulking around the gatehouse again.  It’s clear that Darby has no tolerance for this old woman and her tendency of always going around begging for various things.  Perhaps Darby feels that the Widow Sugrue is leeching off of them, and after seeing some of the Widow Sugrue’s actions, I have to agree that Darby’s assessment is spot on.

Inside, Michael has just woken up and is greeted by Katie.  Both have just noticed that Darby is absent, but Katie is confident that he will turn up.  Their conversation turns to Darby’s talk of the leprechauns.  Michael reveals his skepticism by commenting that he suspects Darby simply drinks too much.  Katie, however, informs him that Darby isn’t a drinking man and that he goes down to the pub because he’s been lonely since Mrs. O’Gill passed away and enjoys the company.  Michael asks Katie what she does when she gets lonely, to which Katie states that she keeps busy.  She then tells Michael that there’s a dance that night in town and suggests that he go with her.  Michael gracefully declines, but asks that Katie call him Michael.  (Up to now, she’s been calling him Mr. McBride.)  With a wide smile, Katie states that she hasn’t known him for more than a day, so she won’t be calling him by his first name until she’s known him longer.  Darby chooses that moment to enter the room, asking what the Widow Sugrue was doing around the place.  He warns Katie that both the old widow and her son, Pony, are not to be trusted as they’re most likely up to no good.  After that conversation is over, Darby no doubt thinking about King Brian and his two remaining wishes, tells Katie that there’s been a change in their fortunes and that he might be buying the manor house.  However, Katie is completely uninterested with the thought of living in the manor house.  Darby tries to find out what Katie would want, but Katie takes up a tone of finality and tells him to pipe down and eat his breakfast.

We now reach one of the highlights of the movie.  Sometime later, Katie is going out to bring some food to Michael, who is busy cutting the weeds around the summer house.  She finds him in the middle of singing the tune ‘Pretty Irish Girl,’ a song that, from my brief internet research, was apparently written for the movie.  Yes, that’s right, everyone.  Sean Connery, the man who would go on to become one of the most iconic James Bond actors, voice a dragon and portray Indiana Jones’ father to boot among other notable roles, actually sings in this movie.  While there are some that suspect Connery’s singing was dubbed by Irish singer Ruby Murray, Michael’s deeper singing voice does not match that of the vocally trained Murray.  Thus, I am confident that it really is Connery singing here, and I’m sure any fan of his acting needs to see this scene.  As for the song itself, it is far too catchy for its own good.  I guarantee you’ll at least be humming it for quite a while after seeing this movie.

As Katie gives Michael the food she prepared him, they strike up a playful conversation that begins when Katie warms Michael about the dangers of eating hot bread, which prompts Michael to comment on how he probably needs someone to look after him.  Michael also questions Katie if Darby said anything to her before leaving to pick up Father Murphy’s bell, checking to see if he came clean to her about his retirement.  However, Darby clearly still hasn’t told Katie the truth and merely told Katie that he (Michael) was a good lad.  When Michael asks Katie if she agrees with that statement, she coyly says she doubts it before dashing off with a wide smile.

Later on, Darby returns home with Father Murphy’s bell.  After delivering the donated bell, Darby steps into the pub and, when his friends notice that the rucksack Darby’s carrying is moving, Darby tells him that King Brian is inside the rucksack.  While the disbelieving Pony and his cronies state that it’s probably just a chicken and leave the pub. the others believe Darby’s claim, which is proven to them when Darby lowers a small glass of the pub’s finest whisky down to King Brian, who, upon finishing it, tosses the now-empty glass back up to Darby.  The witnesses to this are stunned into silence, with the bartender placing the glass in question up on high shelf, stating that they’ll be repeating that story.  “And if any man doubts the truth of it, there's the very same glass,” she announces.

That night, Darby arrives home to find Katie getting ready for the previously mentioned dance, singing the very same song Michael had been singing earlier.  She tells Darby that Michael is off doing the rounds for Darby, checking around for poachers.  Darby leaves to catch up to him and, as he hurries through the grounds, Michael suddenly leaps out of the darkness, tackling him.  And on a personal note, this moment always makes me chuckle.  I have no idea why, but I find the image of Michael quite literally popping up out of nowhere to tackle Darby quite funny.  Once Michael realizes that it’s only Darby, he apologizes, saying he thought Darby was a poacher.  However, when Michael sees Darby’s rucksack, he concludes that there’s a rabbit inside and initially refuses to return it.  Darby informs Michael that he’d captured the king of the Leprechauns, and even allows Michael to look inside the rucksack.  However, since night has fallen, King Brian has regained his magic and ensures that Michael only sees him as a rabbit.  Sadly, Darby wishes that Michael could see King Brian.  At that moment, King Brian gleefully informs Darby that his second wish has been granted.  Flustered and unhappy that he wasted his second wish, Darby demands that King Brian go on and let Michael see him.  King Brian, the slippery little bugger he is, tells Darby that Michael can see him: he sees him as a rabbit.  However, King Brian takes pity on Darby and promises him that Michael can see his true self in his dreams that night.

Elsewhere, the town’s dance has just come to an end, and Katie is leaving the dance hall, accompanied by a man named Sean.  After complementing Katie on her dancing, Sean offers to see Katie home, but before she can reply, Pony steps in and says that Katie can ride home with him.  While Sean starts to protest, his words trail off when Pony literally twists his arm, forcing Sean to back down.  Thus, Pony is the one who brings Katie back to the gatehouse.  Once they’re there, Pony makes an obvious attempt to kiss Katie, but she simply bids him goodnight and heads inside.  She is met with Darby, who had been waiting up for her.  Darby begins to scold Katie for riding home with someone like Pony and tells her to stay away from him.  Once Katie has gone off to bed, Darby has a heart-to-heart with King Brian, who had been hiding nearby.  King Brian warns Darby that if he doesn't make his final wish soon and let him return home to Knocknasheega, his leprechaun army would retaliate by going after Katie.  Darby admits that he doesn't know what to wish for.  It turns out that Darby wants his last wish to ensure Katie’s happiness, but he has no idea what would accomplish that goal.  King Brian suggests that perhaps Katie really wants is a steady lad with temperate ways.  Darby states that if Katie found love with a man like that, he would gladly make his third with.  Thus, as the night goes on, King Brian slips into matchmaker mode by entering into the dreams of Michael and Katie in turn.  With Michael, he places the idea into his head to take Katie up to the ruins of Knocknasheega after Sunday mass.  Once he’s done with Michael, King Brian makes his way to Katie’s room.  I’m not quite sure what he convinces her to do, but I suppose he’s encouraging her to play hard to get.

Because of King Brian’s influence, Katie and Michael journey up to Knocknasheega on Sunday.  While they’re up there, I imagine King Brian’s leprechauns are working their magic to ensure that the pair falls in love.  The quasi-date starts off with Michael reciting the poem The Pillars of Old Ireland, with some paraphrasing.  Seamlessly, the pair starts to playfully flirt with each other, culminating with Michael chasing a laughing Katie across the mountainside.  Their fun is brought to a screeching halt when Katie literally runs into Pony.  For a few tense moments, Pony and Michael face each other down, but before anyone can throw a punch, Katie leaps to Michael’s defense, telling Pony that if he lays so much as a finger on Michael, she’ll never speak to him again.  Pony wordlessly steps aside, his smarmy smirk never leaving his face.  Once they’re out of earshot, Michael essentially tells Katie that he doesn't need her help against someone like Pony.  In response, Katie insists that Pony would have killed him, but when asked, she claims that she wouldn't have cared if Michael had died, because she doesn't have the slightest interest in him.  Despite her words, Katie leans in for a kiss.  Instead of complying, Michael sidesteps around her to walk off.  Before he takes five steps however, Katie hurries after him and kisses him.

Unbeknownst to the pair, a gleeful Darby and King Brian had been watching the exchange.  Thrilled over the fact that Katie and Michael have now fallen in love, Darby prepares to make his third wish, but stops when he hears the chapel bell ringing.  Remembering Father Murphy’s promise that the music of the bell would belong to Darby, he tells King Brian that he’ll make his final wish the following day in order to fully enjoy listening to the bell ringing.

The next morning, Pony delivers the mail to the post office. (Pony’s job is to bring the town’s mail from the train station to the post office.)  Also in the post office is the Widow Sugrue, who is apparently friends with Mrs. O’Toole, the woman who works there.  As Mrs. O’Toole, goes through the mail Pony has delivered, she and the Widow Sugrue come across a postcard from Lord Fitzpatrick, which is addressed to Michael.  Apparently, these two women have no sense of privacy, for they read the postcard and learn the true reason why Michael had been brought to the estate.  At the conniving Mrs. O’Toole’s urging, the Widow Sugrue volunteers to bring the postcard to the estate herself, to see if Katie knows.  Before she does so, however, the Widow Sugrue meets with Pony to tell him what she’s found out and suggesting that perhaps Pony would be able to run Michael out of town.

That night, Michael enters the gatehouse to find Katie in the process of packing up her and Darby’s things.  She directs Michael’s attention to the postcard from Lord Fitzpatrick, which is sitting on the nearby table.  Upon reading the postcard, Michael turns to Katie with a guilty expression on his face, prompting Katie to ask why Michael didn't tell her before.  Michael explains that Darby made him promise not to, but tells the now tearful Katie that he doesn't want them to go at all.  These words have the opposite effect on Katie, and she lashes out at Michael for taking her father’s job when he himself is fully capable of finding work anywhere.  Now angry, Michael grabs Katie’s arm to keep her from running out, informing her that he doesn't want Darby’s job unless he can have the both of them with it.  He proceeds to confess that he loves Katie and wants her to remain in the gatehouse as his wife.  Katie, however, responds to Michael’s confession with scorn and storms out of the gatehouse.

Out at the village pub, everyone has gathered to watch Darby make his third wish.  Before he can do so, however, Katie hurries in to get her father to help her catch the horse, Cleopatra, who has run off again.  Darby, solely focused on making his third wish, virtually ignores her pleas, and in despite frustration, Katie shoves the rucksack containing King Brian aside, enabling the leprechaun king to escape in his form as a rabbit. 

To be honest, I’m a bit confused about this.  Earlier, it said that leprechauns like King Brian lose their magic during the day.  But it’s clearly daytime here, as evidenced by the sun being out, and King Brian is able to take the shape of a rabbit.  Maybe King Brian had managed to conserve a little magic for emergencies?  Then again, perhaps I simply don’t understand the intricate laws of the leprechauns and their magic.

Realizing that Darby won’t be helping her, Katie returns to the estate to do the job herself.  Before she can go after Cleopatra, she is stopped by the concerned Michael, who tells her that if she goes up the mountain with night falling, she could get herself killed.  Katie, however, is still angry and refuses Michael’s offer to get the horse for her and strikes him across the cheek with the horse’s halter before running out into the night.  Michael tries to follow her, but Pony suddenly appears behind him and hits Michael over the head, rendering him unconscious.  Pony them proceeds to carry Michael over to the manor house and leaves him propped against the doorway, taking careful measures to make it look like Michael is passed out drunk, in the hopes that Lord Fitzpatrick, who is to return the following morning, will find Michael in his current state and conclude that he is a poor candidate for caretaker.  

Meanwhile, Darby, who has failed to catch King Brian, returns home to the gatehouse, looking for Katie.  When he finds Lord Fitzpatrick’s postcard, he realizes that Katie must have read it and now knows the truth.  Frantically, Darby starts searching the grounds and finds the unconscious Michael.  At first, Darby believes that Michael is indeed drunk, but upon seeing his reactions upon waking up, is able to devise the truth.  Michael tells Darby where Katie has gone, which deeply concerns Darby, as he knows that Katie is chasing after a pooka.

At that moment, Darby hears the haunting sound of a woman wailing in the wind and recoils in fear.  He recognizes sound as the cry of the banshee, which he’d last heard on the night Mrs. O’Gill passed away.  Without hesitation, Darby and Michael hurry off to the mountain to find Katie in time.  After a search, Darby finds Katie lying unconscious just below a ledge she clearly fell off of.  Darby hurries down to her side, but the moment he reaches her, a bolt of lightning lights the sky, and the banshee appears.  Like the effect with Cleopatra the pooka earlier, the appearance of the banshee is quite remarkable.  So much so, that she actually frightened a lot of younger children who watched this movie.  Even today, those individuals, despite being fully grown now, admit they still find the banshee scary.  Thus, I again have to applaud the special effects team.

Darby, though clearly frightened of the apparition, manages to drive her away by throwing his lantern at her.  This seems to do the trick, as the banshee disappears as the lantern collides with the side of the mountain, bursting into flame.  Darby and Michael bring the now sick and injured Katie back to the gatehouse before summoning Father Murphy.  Now that I think about it, one would think they would have called in the doctor instead of the priest, but perhaps they were hoping Father Murphy would be able to help pray Katie better.  However, regardless of the reasoning, it appears that Father Murphy can do nothing for Katie, and, judging by the expressions on Darby and Michael’s face, starts to get ready to perform the last rites upon the young woman.

Darby suddenly starts hearing the banshee’s wailing once again.  Wordlessly, he slips out of the room and hurries to the front door.  The moment he opens it, BOOM!  The banshee is RIGHT THERE!  In our faces.  And that scene terrified a lot of kids when they saw this scene for the first time, myself included.  Even the Nostalgia Critic placed this scene in the Number 1 slot of his Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments.

Anyway, Darby tries to chase off the banshee with a nearby shovel, but he stops when he sees the Cóiste Bodhar approaching.  Now, in Irish folklore, the Cóiste Bodhar, otherwise known as the Death Coach, is a harbinger of death.  Knowing that the coach is coming for Katie, Darby summons King Brian and begs him to send the coach away.  King Brian states that the Cóiste Bodhar is beyond his power, and once it sets out, it cannot return empty.  Darby then tells King Brian to grant him his third wish and allow the coach to take him in place if Katie.  King Brian, after trying to talk Darby out of it to no avail, sadly grants the wish before disappearing.  And so, when the Cóiste Bodhar comes to a stop outside the gatehouse, Darby willingly climbs inside.

As Darby is carried off to the other side, King Brian appears once again, stating that he came back to bid him farewell.  Finally, King Brian acknowledges Darby as a worthy adversary.  He then tells Darby that Katie’s fever broke the instant Darby set foot inside the coach.  As a final request, Darby asks King Brian to keep an eye on Katie and Michael for him, to which King Brian agrees to do.  Suddenly, a sly grin appears on King Brian’s face and he announces that he wishes he could stay with Darby for the whole trip to the other side.  Darby echoes the wish.  Immediately, King Brian begins to laugh in triumph.  “Darby, you've wished your fourth wish!” he announces.  With the fourth wish now nullifying Darby’s third, King Brian zaps Darby out of the coach, which rides off without him.

Sometime later, Darby is regaling to his friends about his experience on the Cóiste Bodhar.  Like before, Pony, who is present, laughs at Darby’s claims and announces that he’ll be glad to move to the town of Cahersiveen because he’s had quite enough of hearing the ridiculous stories about the little people.  At that moment, Michael enters the pub, asking Pony what kind of man doesn't believe in the leprechauns.  He then continues to say he remembers someone hit him over the head on that fateful night, and, thinking it was a leprechaun, he asked King Brian about it.  According to Michael, King Brian told him that Pony should take the consequences, and instructed Michael to “clout the blackguard in the face.”  Instantly, a fistfight erupts between Michael and Pony, much to the delight of the bystanders, who have clearly all wanted to see someone challenge Pony for years.  After a brief fight, Michael defeats Pony and walks out of the pub arm-in-arm with Darby.  Together, they join Katie, who is waiting by the carriage, and they all ride back to the gatehouse, with Michael and Katie once again singing Pretty Irish Girl, this time as a duet.  On that note, no pun intended, the movie comes to a close.

As a whole. Darby O’Gill and the Little People is a rather decent film.  While it might not be one of Disney’s best achievements and could easily be clumped together with some of their earlier obscure life-action films like The Three Lives of Thomasina, So Dear to My Heart and Toby Tyler.  But for what it is, it’s a rather imaginative fantasy story.  In fact, Walt Disney was so invested in making this story, he began planning for the film about ten years before it was released, and when WWII came to an end, Walt Disney and several of his artists even journeyed to Ireland themselves in order to gain the needed background material.  In addition, it has been reported that his appearance in this film was what brought Sean Connery to the attention of director Albert R. Broccoli, who later cast Connery as James Bond.  Thus, in a way, we can thank this film for giving us one of the most iconic of 007 actors.

What’s particular interesting about the movie is that there are some moments where you have to make your own interpretations.  For example, when Michael and Katie are out on their quasi-date up on Knocknasheega, there is no way to confirm that King Brian’s leprechauns are influencing the pair to fall in love.  It’s only hinted at `when King Brian visits their dreams.  What’s more, as the film comes to an end with Michael finally confronting Pony, we only have Michael’s word that he actually spoke to King Brian about the identity of Michael’s attacker.  It’s up to us to decide for ourselves if Michael really did talk to King Brian or if he’s only claiming he did because he’s not the type of man to fight Pony based solely on a suspicion he can’t prove.

In closing, this movie is an ideal way to begin introducing children and even some adults to Irish folklore and history.  Although, it may be a good idea to keep an eye on your children afterwards, for they might go out trying to catch a leprechaun themselves.

Movie Review: RENT

Words cannot describe how excited I got when I first saw that they were releasing a movie version of the Les Miserables stage musical.  While I was aware that they’d already made movies based on Victor Hugo’s famous novel, this one actually contained the songs from the musical.  Since Les Miserables is my all-time favorite musical, that instantly placed the upcoming film on my must-see list, and I was very eager to see what they’d do with this movie.   Obviously, since the movie is still in theaters at the time of this post, meaning it will be quite a while before it’s released on DVD/Blu-ray, it’s not yet eligible for review.  However, I CAN review another musical-turned-movie.  While my love for this movie musical isn’t as strong as my love for Les Miserables, the story still holds a special place in my heart.  The movie I’m referring to is RENT.  Since this will be the first time I try to tackle a full-blown musical, this review will be rather lengthy, as I’ll have a lot of ground to cover, particularly when most of the story is told through musical numbers.  Since I doubt anyone wants a blow-by-blow of stuff that is either said or done within most of the musical numbers, I will do my best to summarize what’s going on during the musical numbers in question.

  My first introduction to RENT happened when I was involved in high school chorus.  One of the songs we were made to sing for one of the school’s concerts was RENT’s infamous theme song ‘Seasons of Love,’ possibly more commonly known as ‘Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes.’  At that point in my life, I’d never even heard of RENT, and since it didn't even occur to me to actually do the necessary research on my own, (although, I probably wouldn't have been able to do much research anyway, as the school's internet filtering system, Bess, would have most likely blocked off all websites that had information on the story, due to the obvious subject matters of drugs, same-sex couples, and so on) I had no clue what we were really singing about.  After I graduated high school and started taking classes at the local community college, all thoughts of that song were cast off to the very edges of my memory and I gave no thought to it again.  That is until 2004 came along, and my mother brought me to see Vanity Fair.  (Incidentally, I probably should give that movie another chance sometime.  When I first saw it, the movie held my interest for a while.  But after the jerky husband of the main character’s best friend dies in the Battle of Waterloo, the film shifted into the movie version of the Energizer Bunny.  It just kept on going, and going, and going, and going…..  I was sitting there thinking ‘Come ON, movie. End already!”  Maybe now that I’m older, I might enjoy it more than I did back then, but that remains to be seen.)

            Anyway, getting back on topic, my mother and I were sitting in the dark theater watching the trailers that preceded Vanity Fair, and I started to hear a surprisingly familiar song coming out of the theater’s speakers.  Wouldn't you know it; it was ‘Seasons of Love’, that song they made us sing in high school!  As I stared at the screen in amazement, I watched as a trailer for the movie version of RENT began to play.  Needless to say, I was quite excited, and immediately made a mental note to go see it, wanting to see the point behind that odd song about midnights and cups of coffee.  Unfortunately, after Vanity Fair ended and Mother and I left the theater, I didn't hear a single word about RENT after that.  I saw no other trailers, and absolutely no TV spots.   Thanks to what I ascribe to the poor marketing, I completely forgot that the movie RENT existed.  That is, until I transferred from the community college to a four-year college roughly two hours away from my home town.  At this particular university, there was a special movie night every Friday in the Student Union, where they’d show movies that were no longer in theaters and hadn't made it to DVD yet.  I happened to see that one of the movies they were showing was RENT.  Well, obviously, this was a sign from above that I absolutely had to see this movie.  Determined not to let this chance pass me by again, I made sure I’d be in the designated auditorium to watch it that Friday.  Of course, when the film first began, with eight nameless people standing up on stage singing that infamous ‘Seasons of Love’ song, I was starting to wonder what exactly I got myself into, and began thinking “Okay, I didn't just set aside two hours of my life to watch these people just singing on a stage.  Get on with the story.”  However, when the actual story did get underway, I was very quickly hooked, and when it ended, I was so enthralled in what I just saw, I was positively giddy as I rode the shuttle bus back to my campus apartment.  Not only that, RENT holds the honor of being the first movie that actually made me cry.  That’s not to say that I’m hard-hearted when it comes to movies.  I’ll admit that I did feel myself get choked up a bit at the endings for Dragonheart, E.T. and Fox and the Hound.  But RENT was the very first movie I ever saw that made actual tears fall from my eyes.

            So anyway, the review.  The film opens on, as I mentioned above, that scene with the eight principal characters standing up on stage, singing ‘Seasons of Love’.  As you might have gathered, I am not particularly thrilled with this scene.  I suppose it was put in the movie for the sake of the people who had already seen the stage musical or something.  But I've seen the stage musical when the touring cast came to my area, and while the actors do sing this song while just standing on stage on one point, it’s at the start of Act 2 when everyone’s coming back from intermission and need to get back into the show.  But this isn't the stage musical, it’s a movie.  Seeing those people on stage does not get you into the movie, it’ll just take you out of it.  At least, that’s the effect it had on me.  For that reason, I personally think that this wasn't a wise move on the part of the directors and script writers.  This opening scene just doesn't work in the movie, and to this day, it’s always the part I skip over completely.

            Once the stage recital thing is finished, the actual story begins.  The very first image we see is one of those film countdown leader things, followed by various images from NYC.  Although, the only recognizable landmark that’s shown to us is the Radio City Music Hall.  Most of the footage features shots of homeless people.  A disembodied voice informs us that it’s December 24^th, 1989, 9:00 PM EST, and that from this point on, he’s shooting without a script in order to see if he can come up with something good.  This voice belongs to Mark Cohen; an aspiring young filmmaker who we soon learn will film almost everything he sees with a 16mm Bolex.  It’s clear to me that we’re supposed to conclude that the opening images we saw were from Mark’s camera, which I have to say I find a rather artistic opening for a movie.  I tend to place this opening right up there with the openings of the Indiana Jones films, when that Paramount Mountain logo seamlessly becomes an actual mountain in the movie.  The only thing that would make one scratch their heads is the fact that Mark will sometimes narrate while he films with his Bolex camera.  From the quick research I've done on these cameras, they don’t actually record sound, so they won’t pick up Mark’s narration.  But that’s probably just a nitpick, and I imagine Mark only really narrates to let people know he’s filming them as some sort of courtesy to them.

            As the (real) opening song, ‘Rent’, is sung, Mark rides his bike back to his place, which is known as the loft within the fan base, pedaling past a pole covered with eviction notices.  It is though this song that we get our first look at some of the other main characters in this movie.  Back in the loft, we immediately meet Roger, Mark’s best friend and roommate, who is busy with an acoustic guitar.  When the lights go out in the loft, Roger immediately tries to fix the problem with the fuse box, but soon learns that won’t do much, as Mark arrives home and shows him one of the eviction notices.  I’m guessing that means that their power was actually shut off on them, but that’s not really relevant right now.  Roger and Mark then immediately get a phone call from a payphone across the street.  The caller is a man called Collins, Roger and Mark’s other roommate, who is returning home after some time away.  Mark tosses Collins down the key to get back in the loft, but the second Mark ducks back inside, Collins is immediately attacked and mugged by some street gang.

            The song continues as Roger and Mark try to keep warm by lighting a fire in an old garbage can, using various posters and some of Mark’s discarded scripts to fuel the fire.  For some reason that I can’t really understand, they then take the garbage can and dump the burning papers over the side of the fire escape.  I’ll admit I really don’t understand their motivation for doing so.  I mean, as Mark informed us right before this song began, they’re in the middle of December in New York City, so it’s bound to be cold.  And with their power off, they’d probably need that fire to keep from freezing to death and all.  (I can speak from experience, as my house has lost power in the past due to wind and ice storms, and when the power, and therefore heat, is gone, the only way to keep warm is to bundle up in as many layers as possible and huddle in front of the fireplace.) I suppose Mark and Roger might have gotten caught up in the moment or something, as we see other people who live on this street are out on their fire escapes, too, and making a show of burning their own eviction notices.  So, maybe Mark and Roger wanted to outdo their neighbors?  I don’t know.  

             Anyway, we then meet Benny, who has just driven up in his Range Rover.  He calls up to Mark and Roger, instructing them to come down so he can talk to them.  They wordlessly agree, but before Roger can follow Mark off the fire escape, he happens to meet the eyes of a young girl living on the floor below them. 

It's now time for some exposition.  With the help of Mark’s trademark narration as he films Benny, we learn that Benny married a woman named Allison Grey, whose rich father owns many buildings on the block.  In addition, Benny apparently is planning to evict many of the homeless from this neighborhood known as Alphabet City so he can build a Cyber Studio.  It’s here that we also learn, though a comment Benny makes, that Roger is a recovering drug addict.  Roger, obviously not wanting to beat around the bush, asks Benny straight out why he’s there.  Benny explains that his father-in-law heard about a protest against the Cyber Studio, which is being held by a woman named Maureen.  Here, it’s also revealed that Mark once dated Maureen, but she recently dumped him for a lawyer named Joanne.

In retaliation of Maureen’s protest, Mr. Grey sent Benny out to Alphabet City to collect the rent money.  Mark and Roger immediacy react with annoyance.  Now, I’ve seen some people criticizing Mark and Roger here, saying that they’re essentially lazy bums because they’re mad at Benny for asking for the rent money.  That’s not why they’re angry, people.  They’re angry because when Benny bought the building Mark and Roger live in after marrying Allison, he had promised them that they could stay there rent free.  Now, he’s showing up on Christmas Eve asking for an entire year’s worth of rent money.  Who wouldn't be angry?

            Anyway, Benny presents Mark and Roger with a deal.  He will keep his promise to allow them to stay there rent free if, and only if, they manage to stop Maureen’s protest.  Actually, now that I think about it, I am a bit confused about the motivation of Benny and the Greys.  I mean, I do sort of understand their reasons for wanting to build a Cyber Studio.  As Benny explains with his signature musical number, ‘You’ll See’, this Cyber Studio would enable people like Mark and Roger to continue their passions (filmmaking and songwriting respectfully) and actually get paid for it.  In other words, he’s creating new job opportunities for people.  However, when the people who live on the site of the proposed Cyber Studio react negatively to getting evicted, with a full-blown protest being held, Benny and the Greys get all huffy.  I mean, you’re essentially kicking a bunch of people out of their homes so you could build your precious Cyber studio.  Of course they’re going to protest.

            The movie now introduces us to our next protagonist, Angel.  While sharp eyes will catch a quick glimpse of this character at the conclusion of the musical number ‘Rent,’ the real introduction to this character has him/her (this label will make sense later) sitting on a street corner drumming away on an empty pickle tub for money.  When he/she hears someone coughing in a nearby alleyway, he/she goes to investigate and finds an injured Collins, who as I've mentioned had just been mugged.  After Angel and Collins introduce themselves, Angel helps Collins to his feet and helps him walk out of the alleyway, offering to help clean him up a bit.  He/she tells Collins that he/she does sort have to hurry, as he/she has a life support meeting to go to.  This life support meeting is for people infected with HIV, something Angel and Collins both admit to having.

            Here, we cut back to Mark and Roger, who are back in the loft.  Roger is back to fiddling around with his guitar when Mark announces that he’s stepping out to see if he can find out what happened to Collins.  (Remember that Mark last saw Collins when he threw the key to the loft down to him, and isn't even aware that his friend was mugged immediately afterward.)  Mark asks Roger if he wants to come along to help him look, but Roger refuses.  Mark doesn't push Roger to change his mind, but simply reminds Roger to take his AZT, revealing that Roger also has HIV.   After Mark leaves, we get our next musical number, ‘One Song Glory’, in which Roger expresses his desire to write one phenomenal song in order to leave behind some legacy before his inevitable death.  As this song is sung, we get a series of flashbacks that show that Roger was once a singer in a band.  At one of his gigs, his eyes meet those of a red-headed girl named April, and the two quickly become romantically involved.  However, April either was already involved in or started taking heroin, and it’s implied that she got Roger to start taking it as well.  Because April apparently shot up with a contaminated needle, she became infected with HIV.  This also explains how Roger must have gotten the virus, too, as he probably either shared needles with April or caught it through sexual contact with her.  As for April, Roger admits that she died a little later on.  While it’s never stated how she died in the movie, the stage musical explains that she committed suicide by cutting her wrists in the bathtub after learning of her diagnosis.  And again, while it’s never actually stated, it’s heavy implied that Roger not only quit heroin after April’s death, he hasn't left the loft since then, because all he can see is the fact that he’s going to die before his time and therefore doesn't see the point of actually living.  Wait!  I just caught something!  Earlier, Benny commented how Roger was looking good after coming off a year of withdrawal.  Maybe he wasn't just referring to the heroin withdrawal.  Maybe he also meant a withdrawal from life!  Poignancy for the win!

            After Roger’s soliloquy ends, he gets a surprise visit from that girl who he noticed earlier, the one who lives on the floor below.  Though another musical number, ‘Light My Candle’, this girl explains that the heat in her place downstairs was also turned off, and requests Roger’s help in lighting the candle she brought up.  Although, we saw right before she knocked on Roger’s door that the candle had already been lit until she purposely blew it out, so we know that this girl is simply using that candle as an excuse to come up and talk to Roger.  Throughout this song, there are a number of nuances that show that there’s an instant connection between Roger and this girl.  For example, when Roger notices that this girl is shivering, he immediately whips off his leather jacket and puts it around her shoulders, trying to provide her with an improvised blanket.  Roger insists he’s seen this girl somewhere before, but he just can’t place where until she states that she dances at an S&M club known as the Cat Scratch club.  Obviously, this girl must have made quite an impression on Roger when he saw her at this club, as he remembers her after being shut away for a year.  Anyway, as this musical number continues, we see this girl playfully flirt with Roger, with Roger acting completely flustered about the whole thing, which of course further shows that he’s completely blown away by her.  This song number also reveals the girl is an active heroin addict when she realizes she dropped her stash of drugs while she was talking to Roger and proceeds to search the room for it, all while Roger tells her that she should really quit taking heroin.  (This will be a pretty big plot point later on.)  As this song number ends, the girl introduces herself to Roger, stating that people call her Mimi.

            We then cut to morning, Christmas Day.  The power is back on in the loft, and as Roger pours himself some coffee while reading a newspaper called The Village Voice, Mark is screening a phone call from his mother.  And on a personal note, there are not enough words to describe how much I dig Mark and Roger’s answering machine message.  You know how most people have their messages say stuff like ‘we can’t come to the phone right now, so wait for the beep, you know the drill.’  Well, Mark and Roger, like a regular pair of smart alecs, have recorded their message as a monotone command of ‘Speak!’ in the same manner as the characteristic answering machine beep.  Even to this day, hearing that answering machine message gets a chuckle out of me.

            Anyway, while Mark’s mother doesn't say anything really awful in her phone call, and it’s clear that she loves her son, there is that certain undertone in her phone call that paints Mama Cohen as one of those overly-doting mothers.  You know, the type that calls up their adult children every week to check if they still have clean underwear?  After the phone call ends, Roger happens to glance over at the window and sees that Mimi has written him a message in the frost covering the glass, inviting him to a Christmas brunch in her pad downstairs.  While his facial expression betrays the fact that he’s tempted, when Mark asks him if he’s going to accept the invite, Roger immediately says he’s not.  Now, before people start trying to judge Roger too harshly because of this, please keep in mind that he’s essentially refused to leave the loft in over a year, and that he can’t bring himself to live his life because of the knowledge that he carries a rather serious illness that may very well kill him.  In addition, he’s probably afraid that if he lets himself get close to Mimi, he might end up infecting her with the virus.  That or he’s cautious about Mimi being a heroin addict and is worried that he might fall off the wagon if he spends time with her.  Personally, I think it’s more of the former than the latter.  But I digress.

            At that moment, Collins enters the loft and is promptly welcomed back by Mark and Roger.  Collins presents them both with Stoli in disposable paper cups and some food (not exactly what sort of food he brings over, but it almost looks like cheeses and such) before informing his roommates that he has returned home from his teaching job at MIT after being fired for some reason. (The reason will briefly be mentioned in another musical number later on, but I’ll get to that later.)  However, he has a new teaching job at NYU.  When Mark asks if that’s how he was able to afford the alcohol and food he brought home with him, Collins states that it wasn't him who brought that stuff, but it was in fact Angel, the person who had helped him after being mugged.  He then opens up the loft door to reveal Angel standing outside. (So, was Angel just standing outside this whole time, waiting for Collins to introduce him/her with as much fanfare as possible? Guys, I’m starting to think this movie might be a bit weird.)

            Anyway, Angel is now dressed as a girl, with a Santa Claus-esque dress and a black wig.  This is the reason for me giving this character the he/she label. Angel, it turns out, is either a transvestite or a drag queen.  It’s never really stated which one, but either way, Angel is physically a boy, but is most often seen dressed as a woman.  For that reason, Angel wears the whole he/she label proudly.  With the use of the musical number ‘Today 4 U, Tomorrow 4 Me’, Angel informs Mark and Roger that some rich lady paid Angel $1,000 to play his/her drums in front of a Gracie Mews apartment building, where the rich lady’s neighbors live with an Akita called Evita.  This particular dog’s incessant barking is keeping the rich lady up at night, so the rich lady is hoping that if Angel plays his/her drums outside, the dog will bark herself to death.  Apparently, the plan worked better than expected, as Angel’s drumming got Evita so wiled up, she actually fell from the window of the 23 story apartment and plummeted to her death.

            After the song ends, someone else calls the loft.  This time, it’s Maureen, that woman who’s holding the protest against Benny’s Cyber Studio, and who dumped Mark for Joanne the lawyer.  The reason for Maureen’s phone call is because she wants Mark’s help in setting up her protest.  Mark is not happy that Maureen is asking for his help in fixing her sound equipment after dumping him for a woman, but he decides to go over to do what he can.  Collins and Angel also make their exit so they can go to that life support meeting, the one that had been formed for people with HIV.  They invite Roger to go, but like before, he turns down the invite, still refusing to leave the loft.

            Down at the performance space, Mark arrives to help fix Maureen’s sound equipment, but finds that Maureen isn't even there.  Instead, he has his very first encounter with the infamous Joanne.  The pair immediately have a whole awkward Mrs.-and-the-Ex moment before launching into another musical number, ‘The Tango Maureen’.  Through this musical number, which includes a whole dream sequence with a good number of random couples performing the tango all over the room, Mark and Joanne form a bond-of-sorts over their mutual knowledge of Maureen’s flighty, flirtatious nature.  After fixing Maureen’s sound equipment, Mark heads across town to a community center.  This is the meeting place for the life support meeting Collins and Angel are attending, which Angel had told him he was welcome to come to as it wasn't just for people with HIV/AIDS.  This scene is rather short, but it does introduce us to one of the movie’s recurring themes, about not letting past regrets stop you from living your life by using the movie’s catchphrase: No Day But Today.

            Immediately, we shift focus to the Cat Scratch Club, where Mimi is currently putting on a show for the club’s patrons.  Throughout this scene, Mimi sings the next musical number, ‘Out Tonight’.  There’s not much that really happens during this song.  It’s essentially just Mimi moving about on stage, taking money from the club’s patrons and getting into various provocative positions before walking home from the club.  (But if you look carefully, I swear you can see Albert Einstein’s long-lost twin brother in the crowd.)  Basically, this is the movie’s party song.  The song that doesn't have any real message, but talks about having a fun night out on the town.  Anyway, as ‘Out Tonight’ comes to an end, Mimi arrives at her apartment but then immediately makes her way up to the loft to see Roger, who is still messing around with his guitar.  Roger, while he is clearly stunned to see her climbing in through his window like she owns the place, a brief smile does flash across his face, and when Mimi moves in to kiss him, you do see him give in to her kiss for a few moments.  
However, Roger quickly pulls away and we immediately shift into the next song, ‘Another Day’.  In this song, Roger berates Mimi for barging in and tells her to leave.  While he teeters on the edge of explaining his reasons for pushing her away, he quickly decides against it.  Mimi tries to convince Roger to take a chance, repeating the message we just heard at the life support meeting: life is short, so don’t let regret stop you from living.  Roger, however, refuses to listen to Mimi and pretty much throws her out of the loft, telling her to leave him alone.  This eventually leads to what is essentially a shouting match between Roger and Mimi, which Mark, Angel and Collins end up witnessing as they return from the life support meeting.

            The next morning, Mark tries to bring up the fight Roger had with Mimi, but Roger states he doesn't want to talk about it.  Trying another tactic, Mark announces that Mimi will be at Maureen’s protest, which is being held that night.  He proceeds to try and convince Roger that being with Mimi might be good for him, as she might help him learn to live again.  However, Roger once again brushes Mark’s advice off.  Realizing he’s probably not going to win this one, Mark exits the loft, leaving Roger alone with his thoughts.  Across town, Mark is once again at the life support meeting with Collins and Angel.  You know, I can’t help wondering how many times they hold these life support meetings.  In the movie’s timeline, this is the third consecutive day.  I mean, with Alcoholics Anonymous, the meetings are typically once a week, aren't they?  So why is this HIV/AIDS group meeting three days in a row?  Is this life support group regularly a daily thing, or did they just temporarily schedule it like this because it’s Christmas, a time when people usually need to feel connected to one another all the more?  But I guess I’m getting off the track again.

            As Mark films the meeting for the documentary he’s working on, he is stunned to see someone else walking into the room.  It’s Roger, who apparently has finally been convinced to step outside the loft for the first time since April’s death a year ago.  Mark, Collins and Angel are all pleased and proud to see Roger there.  When the four friends leave the meeting, Mark stops a couple of cops from harassing a homeless woman, but the woman thanks Mark for his help by practically biting Mark’s head off.  After this confrontation, they get on a subway train where Collins and Angel sing the next song in this musical film, ‘Santa Fe,’ a song about their dreams to leave New York and move to Santa Fe in order to open up a restaurant.  Again, I might be reading something into nothing, but what is it about Santa Fe that’s so attractive?    This isn't the first time I've seen a movie with people living in New York wanting to leave for Santa Fe.  In the Disney musical Newsies, the main character Jack Kelly also had a whole song about his wish to leave New York and starting again in Santa Fe.  Seriously, why is Santa Fe so attractive to New Yorkers?  Mind you, I’m sure New York is a rough place to live.  I've heard all the stories about the mugging and the homeless community and all the other negative aspects about the Big Apple But even so, why Santa Fe?  Why not Florida or some other warmer place?  I just don’t get it.

            When their subway train ride comes to an end, Mark steps away to continue helping set up Maureen’s protest, dragging Roger with him.  Once Collins and Angel are alone, they launch into another song, this one entitled ‘I’ll Cover You’.  Like ‘Out Tonight’, this song doesn't really serve much purpose in the overall movie, but it does reveal that Collins and Angel have both fallen for each other.  Now, when I saw this movie for the first time, my reaction was essentially ‘Wha?!  They’re gay?’  I’ll admit that it’s nice they didn't make the sexual preference of these two characters all in-your-face and brutally obvious by utilizing any of those stereotypical behaviors by making them both all effeminate and obsessed with curtains and whatnot.  Nevertheless, this plot point just seemed to come completely out of nowhere.  When I first watched this movie back at that four-year college, I had absolutely no clue that Collins and Angel were gay/homosexual/whatever the current PC term is before this song popped up, so their mutual decision to become lovers caught me completely off guard.  Sure, Collins did cast a few glances at Angel a few times earlier on in the movie, but if you didn't already know that they’d enter into a romantic relationship with each other, those glances would have been very easy to overlook.  Granted there’s a little more build up to this in the stage musical, but not much. 

So, yeah, Collins and Angel are in love now, and even engage in a full-on lip-lock.  Okay, I guess I can accept that, even though I still think it came completely out of left field.  After that point has been made, we fast forward to nighttime, where we see a brief shot of the New York skyline, with our eyes instinctively being drawn to the iconic Twin Towers. (Remember this movie is set in 1989, over a decade before the famous tragedy.)  Once we've all been given the chance to stand and salute those poor towers and everything they stand for, the movie returns our focus to the protagonists, just in time for Maureen’s protest to start.  Roger is standing outside the performance space, searching, as it’s quickly established, for Mimi.  He soon spots her, but he sees her standing with someone he recognizes: the same drug dealer who April used to buy her heroin from.  However, Roger manages to shrug off this coincidence and approaches Mimi.  When he tries to ask her if they can talk, the drug dealer, known to the fans simply as The Man, steps in and threatens Roger, warning him not to steal his client.  Roger retaliates by shoving The Man, angrily stating that The Man didn't miss him, so he most likely won’t miss Mimi, also pointing out that he’s got plenty of customers.  Not wanting the confrontation to escalate, Mimi pulls Roger aside, allowing Roger to apologize to her for the other night.  He offers to try and make it up to her by telling her that he and his friends are going to the Life Café after Maureen’s show, and inviting her to come along as his date.  With a smile, Mimi accepts the invite and then accompanies Roger into the performance space, where they meet up with Collins and Angel.  At that moment, Maureen arrives, riding in on a motorcycle to begin her protest, with the next song, ‘Over the Moon’.  This ‘song’ is… just weird.  While the ‘Seasons of Love’ scene is the one I tend to skip over, this is the one when my brain zones out.  ‘Over the Moon’ is like an interpretive art exhibit combined with a student film.  I can sort of tell that Maureen is trying to discuss what’s happening with Benny and his Cyber Studio, and the threat of everyone being evicted, but her methods of doing so are just bizarre with her constant references to that old nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle, with heavy emphasis on the cow with super jumping powers.  The only thing that really stands out to me during this scene is when Maureen brings everyone’s attention to the fact that Benny is standing among the crowd, and there’s a brief camera shot of Mimi looking slightly uncomfortable.  But we won’t learn what that’s about until later on.

            At one point during Maureen’s protest, everyone suddenly starts mooing, which makes this whole sequence even more weird.  But that’s when the police, who had been called in by Benny to be on stand-by, step in and try to force some of the protesters to back away from the stage.  Despite Maureen’s efforts to break things up and keep everything peaceful, her attempts ultimately fail as a full-on riot erupts.  In an attempt to avoid trouble, Roger, Mimi, Collins and Angel all hightail it out of there.

            Sometime later, Maureen and Joanne are seen walking up to the Life Café, with Maureen venting her annoyance with Benny for placing the cops at her protest to begin with, particularly because a good number of the protesters got arrested.  Joanne reassures Maureen that the cops will most likely let everyone go in a couple of hours.  Once they reach the Life Café, they are immediately met with Collins, Angel, Mimi and Roger.  It’s only then that they realize that Mark’s not there.  They decide to wait for him inside, which is kind of odd if you ask me, particularly because everyone knew Mark had been at the protest, too.  For all they knew, Mark might have been among the people who got arrested, or he could have gotten seriously hurt in the riot.  But maybe they were trying to be hopefully optimistic that he just got hung up somewhere and are giving him a few more minutes to get there before breaking up into search parties.  Thankfully, Mark wasn't in trouble after all, as he enters the Life Café a short time later.  He announces that some news station had bought his footage of the riot that had erupted at Maureen’s protest, and that they’ll be showing it that night at 11:00.  After a rather humorous exchange with the Maitre'd, the seven friends join up with some other nameless people, who they all clearly know somehow.  Before sitting down, Maureen notices that Benny is also there at the Life Café, having a meeting with Mr. Grey and some other nameless business associate.  The main group starts to tell Benny off for showing his face there after what just happened, but Benny tries to explain that he never wanted things to get out of hand.  Everyone ignores Benny’s attempts, and Roger asks Benny why his wife, Allison, missed the protest, snidely referring to her as Muffy.  Benny replies that there was a death in the family: their pet Akita.  Instantly, Roger, Mark and the others realize that Benny is referring to Evita, the same dog that Angel admitted to essentially killing earlier in the film.

            Once again, Benny tries to get everyone, here on in referred to as the Bohemians, to see things from his point of view, stating that he’s trying to do some good  He finishes off by informing them they’ll end up getting nowhere by clinging to their ideals so strongly.  In response, Mark leads the others into the song ‘La Vie Boheme’, which is essentially the Bohemians pledging to continue living as nonconformists, making as many references as possible to various artists, poets and subjects that are essentially taboo in polite society.  Their display alienates Mr. Grey and the nameless businessman so much they leave without a word, with Benny tailing after them.  

As the Bohemians continue to celebrate, with Angel finally stating why Collins was fired from MIT (he somehow wired some of the school’s electrical equipment to self-destruct as some sort of anarchist statement about fighting AIDS), Mimi approaches Roger, informing him that she’s annoyed that, even though he invited her to come to the Life Café with him, he’s been ignoring her all night.  Again, Roger tries to apologize, stating that he has been trying, and that he’s got baggage.  As Mimi tries to tell him that she’s okay with baggage, as she has some of her own, Roger is momentarily distracted when his beeper goes off.  This beeper, from what I gather, is issued to people with HIV to remind them to take their AZT.  Suddenly, to Roger’s amazement, he sees Mimi also pulling out some AZT of her own, revealing that she also has HIV.  As was stated earlier in this review, Roger was pushing Mimi away mainly out of fear that he could infect her with the virus.  But now that he knows that she’d already had it, he doesn't have to worry about that anymore, and is perfectly free to let himself be with her.

            And it’s here that we get Roger and Mimi’s signature love song, which begins after Roger leads Mimi outside into a snowy back alley. (Interesting choice of location, considering he just found out that she has a disease that essentially attacks her immune system, and that cold weather tends to further hinder a person’s immunity against illness.  But that small nitpick aside, this remains one of my favorite scenes in the movie.) Within this song, ‘I Should Tell You’, Roger and Mimi basically try to express their growing attraction for each other.  In general, the lyrics to this song are a bit intelligible and don’t make a lot of sense when you really take the time to listen to them, but I think that’s the point.  When has love ever really made sense?  You just agree to throw caution to the winds and take a chance, and that’s exactly what Roger and Mimi are doing here.  Neither of them really have any idea where their relationship will go, but they’re both deciding to give it a chance.  After Roger cements things by kissing Mimi, they go back inside the Life Café where the Bohemians are continuing their celebration..

           We now get to watch a montage of Mark’s random footage, over a short segment of ‘Seasons of Love’.  Again, this is why I think that opening sequence doesn’t really work within the movie.  In the stage musical, this is where ‘Seasons of Love’ is performed, and since it’s still appearing here in the exact same spot, putting it at the beginning as well seems to be a bit of an odd decision.  (I’m sorry, but I can’t get past the stage thing.  What was up with that?)

When the montage ends, the Bohemians are celebrating New Years.  After Mark asks Roger and Mimi what their New Year’s Resolutions are, he then gets into a conversation with Maureen.  Through this conversation, we learn that Mark was offered a job with a news show called Buzzline, but Mark is completely uninterested in the offer, stating that he’d be selling out if he goes to work for Buzzline.

            When the Bohemians return to the loft, they discover that Benny has had the building’s doors padlocked shut.  With Angel’s help, they manage to break the padlock and walk in.  But upon reaching the loft, they discover that Benny didn’t just stop with the padlocked door, he also completely cleaned out their place, removing all of their belongings.  Mimi enters the loft, stating that Benny also completely cleaned out her pad.  Joanne, utilizing her lawyer knowledge, informs everyone that now that they’re inside the building, they’re all technically squatters.  Therefore, they can’t be arrested or thrown out onto the street.  This, according to Joanne, should enable them time to get some money together.  The problem is, how are they going to get money when Mark and Roger don’t have any income to speak of?  With a casual shrug, Maureen reminds Mark that he could always go work for Buzzline.  Realizing that he no longer has much of a choice, Mark reluctantly agrees and arranges a meeting with Alexi Darling, the head of Buzzline. Joanne, who obviously is friends with Mark now, accompanies him to the meeting as an agent-of-sorts.  In the end, it is agreed that Mark will come work for Buzzline, who will pay him $3,00 per segment, but during the meeting, Joanne witnesses Maureen, who had tagged along, essentially flirting with a secretary.  This does not make Joanne happy at all, and as they leave the office building, Joanne tells Maureen off for flirting with some other woman.  Maureen insists that she was just being friendly.  As the pair continues to argue, Joanne informs Maureen that what she wants the most from her is commitment.  Maureen shows no sign of being phased by this, and they instantly decide to get engaged on the spot, paying no attention to poor Mark, who is simply watching everything transpiring like a stunned beast.

            The action shifts to some hoity-toity country club, where Maureen and Joanne’s families have come together to celebrate the engagement.  However, a leopard, as they say, cannot change their spots.  At least not overnight.  As Joanne is hugged and congratulated by the Bohemians, she once again notices that Maureen is across the room, acting rather flirtatious with a woman working at the country club’s bar.  Joanne promptly pulls Maureen aside, begging her not to act like that, especially not today.  Faster than you can blink, an argument is triggered between Maureen and Joanne, which quickly escalates into a fight that draws everyone’s attention.  Throughout this fight, which occurs through the song ‘Take Me As I Am’, both Maureen and Joanne inform the other that neither of them can change who they are and, if they can’t live with each other’s faults, namely Maureen’s constant need to be the center of attention and Joanne’s rigid, unyielding nature, then maybe they shouldn't be together after all.  The fight ends with Maureen and Joanne deciding to break up, and both women storm out of the room, prompting Maureen’s mother, in a moment of comic relief, to hopefully suggest that maybe her daughter can get back together with Mark now.

            After Maureen and Joanne’s public break-up, Mark, Roger, Mimi, Collins and Angel return home to the loft.  Upon entering, they find that not only has all their stuff been brought back, Benny is also waiting there for them.  He informs them that Mimi, whom he hasn't seen in a while, had met him for dinner and that she convinced him to rethink the situation.  Upon hearing this news, Roger is immediately on guard, which indicates that Mimi failed to inform him about this meeting.  With no indication that he notices the sudden tension between Roger and Mimi, Benny proceeds to announce that he’s willing to make a new deal with his former friends, and presents them with a brand new lease, courtesy of Cyber Arts.  Mark informs Benny that they don’t need his charity, and hands over his first advance from Buzzline.  Benny, undoubtedly realizing that he’s overstayed his welcome, promptly exits the loft.  After Benny leaves, Mimi cautiously walks up to Roger, informing him that while nothing happened during her recent meeting with Benny, they did indeed date at one point (which explains that awkward expression that appeared on her face during the ‘Over the Moon’ segment), but it was over two years ago, long before she’d even met Roger.  Roger insists that he doesn't care and gives her the cold shoulder.  Thus, we've now got two of the movie’s couples going through a rough patch.

            Now, I've put a lot of thought into trying to understand the reasons for Roger distancing himself from Mimi at this point, and I think I've got it figured out.  It’s already been established that Roger clearly had no idea Mimi had met with Benny, so she obviously arranged the meeting behind Roger’s back.  So, right there, we have a breach of trust.  In addition, Benny said that he met Mimi for dinner and she “convinced [him] to rethink the situation.”  While this does seem like a rather innocent statement, the fact remains that there are some people in this world who will say “why don’t we have dinner together” when what they really mean is “come and sleep with me” (i.e. that Charles Caiman bloke from Godzilla ’98.)  So, is that what we’re supposed to assume Benny’s implying in this movie?  Well, in the movie’s current format, I suppose that’s pretty much open to debate, but in the stage musical version, Benny does make a pronounced effort to make it sound like Mimi willingly seduced him.  And, in one of the movie’s deleted scenes, Benny does make a snide comment to Roger about how Mimi can be very persuasive, which can easily be interpreted the wrong way.  So, if we accept that this deleted scene actually happened within the movie’s reality, we can conclude that Benny has intentionally placed a seed of doubt in Roger’s head, forcing him to question Mimi’s fidelity.

            Time once again passes through a rather packed montage, accompanied by the song ‘Without You’.  This montage covers a lot of events that occur within the lives of the Bohemians over the following months, so I’ll try to sum it up as best as I can.  Roger, possibly having calmed down enough to try and talk out their issues with Mimi, enters her apartment only to find her seconds away from shooting up.  In disgust, he walks out without a word.  Realizing that she has to make a choice between Roger or the heroin, Mimi decides to try and quit.  Roger later finds Mimi going through what looks like a rather painful withdrawal and promptly carries her up to the loft, showering with encouragement and holding her as tight as he can.  However, Mimi eventually falls off the bandwagon and is then shown outside the Cat Scratch Club, buying more heroin from The Man.  As Mimi turns around after completing her transaction, she is horrified to find that Roger had seen the whole thing.  Even though we can’t really hear what Roger and Mimi are saying to each other after Roger catches Mimi buying more drugs, as the song playing during the montage drowns them out, it’s pretty clear that Roger officially ends things with Mimi, as he throws the heroin back at her and walks off without looking back.  Meanwhile, we see various shots of the life support meetings, which Roger and Mimi both attend now.  One-by-one, we see some of the life support members fading out of the picture, which I guess is meant to symbolize that the members in question have passed away due to an AIDS related illness.  As the camera finally comes to focus on Collins and Angel during their life support meeting, the scene immediately shifts to a subway train, where Collins is holding a clearly-ill Angel.  The montage continues to show Angel is now confined to a hospital bed as his/her condition grows worse and worse.  (Maureen and Joanne also appear in this montage, in the scene when the Bohemians are all visiting Angel at the hospital.  As their facial expressions and body language indicate, these two aren't even speaking to each other anymore.)  As the montage ends, we are left with the image of Collins crying over Angel’s still body, letting us know that he/she has passed away, a fact that is further driven home when the next scene shows everyone attending Angel’s funeral service on Halloween, complete with a reprise of ‘I’ll Cover You’, the song Angel and Collins had previously used to announce their undying love for each other.

            As Angel’s funeral ends, with the Bohemians starting to leave the cemetery, Mimi hesitantly tries to talk to Roger, asking him if it’s true that he sold his guitar and used the money to buy a car in order to leave New York.  Roger confirms this, stating that he’s leaving that very day for Santa Fe.  He then tells Mimi off for having Benny accompany her to Angel’s funeral.  For reasons that I can’t even begin to comprehend, Benny decides that now’s a good time to remind Mimi that she said that she wasn't going to speak to Roger again.  When Maureen berates Benny for acting like he has any say in who Mimi talks to, Joanne interrupts by telling Maureen to mind her own business.  With that, a huge fight erupts between Maureen and Joanne & Mimi and Roger, with neither pair paying any attention to Mark and Benny as they try to break up the fights.  Although, to be fair, it’s not really much of a fight in terms of Maureen and Joanne.  With them, Maureen is just standing there without saying a word while Joanne shouts about how Maureen never put any real effort into their relationship.  Mimi and Roger, on the other hand, both have things to say to each other.  Mimi calls Roger out on how he was never really committed to their relationship while Roger yells at Mimi about her ongoing heroin addiction.  Plus, he still isn't completely convinced that Mimi didn't cheat on him with Benny.  It’s only when Collins steps in that the fights end abruptly, with Collins reminding them all that they’d promised they wouldn't bring up any of their personal grievances up today, out of respect for Angel.  He then states that he can't believe that their family is now breaking apart, particularly after Angel worked so hard to help them all believe in love.  While Collins’ words seem to reach Maureen and Joanne, as Maureen moves in to comfort a crying Joanne, Roger proceeds to leave the cemetery without sparing a glance at Mimi.

            After Roger leaves, we get our next montage song, ‘What You Own,’ which focuses on Mark and Roger.  Mark continues to work at Buzzline, but is finding that he’s not getting any inspiration for the documentary he’s been working throughout the course of the movie.  It’s not from lack of trying, as he spends nearly every spare moment reviewing the various footage he’s collected, with the voice of Angel, who is apparently his muse now, ringing in his ears.  As for Roger, he makes it to Santa Fe, where he sells the car that brought him there to buy a brand new guitar. (So, why not just buy a bus ticket if you were going to resell the car and buy another guitar?  Are you telling me that buying a car and spending money at the various gas stations along the way is cheaper than a bus ticket?)  Confusing monetary decisions aside, Roger starts working to earn money by being one of those street performers.  However, he quickly finds that he’s being haunted by Mimi, with him constantly seeing her face everywhere.  As time goes by, both boys come to realize that they can no longer continue on faking happiness. Mark, being struck by inspiration at last, decides that he needs to focus on his own film and quits Buzzline while Roger hops onto a bus to return to New York.  (See Roger?  You can afford a bus ticket without selling your guitar!  There was no reason for you to buy a car!)  During Roger’s return trip, he starts pouring over his notebook, also finding the inspiration to write his long-sought for song.

            So Roger is now back in New York.  However, it might be too late.  After Roger gets a message from Benny, informing him that Mimi had dropped out of rehab and might be using again, he proceeds down to her pad, only to find the place completely empty.  We then hear through a collection of phone messages that Mimi hasn't shown up to work in quite a while, and is now living on the street.  Through a brief montage, we see Roger, Mark, Maureen and Joanne searching the city for her.  Maureen and Joanne start asking around in case someone had seen her, and Mark files a missing persons report before putting up Missing posters all over the city.  Roger even approaches The Man to ask him if Mimi’s been to see him, but to no avail.  While Collins is apparently out of town again and can’t personally help with the search, he does call regularly asking for updates.  As winter approaches and the weather gets colder, everyone starts worrying about Mimi all the more. 

        On that note, Mark’s narration informs us that it is once again December 24^th, 10:00 PM EST.  We've now come full circle.  Like before, Collins returns home and calls up to the loft for the key, which Mark drops down to him, this time instructing him not to get beat up.  Upon entering the loft, Collins’s first thought is to ask if they've heard from Mimi, which Roger sadly admits they haven’t.  Collins then notices that Mark has set up his projector and realizes that he’s finished his movie.  Collins asks to see it, but first, he pulls out a stack of cash and gives it to Mark and Roger, telling them to use it to get some heat up in the loft.  When they ask Collins how he got the money, he informs them that he rewired the ATM at the Food Emporium, and that from now on, they’ll get as much money as they want if they type in the code A-N-G-E-L.

            Right when the three friends are starting on their Christmas Stoli, which Collins has once again brought over, they hear Maureen’s frantic voice shouting up at them from the street.  When they all step out on the fire escape to see what’s up, they are all shocked to see Maureen and Joanne standing there, holding an extremely ill and barely-conscious Mimi.  Without hesitation, the guys immediately run outside and help Maureen and Joanne carry Mimi up to the loft, where they quickly put together an improvised bed using an old blanket and the metal table. (There was no room for her on the couch.) Mimi regains enough consciousness to realize that Roger is right at her side.  After Collins hands over his coat (which, in a bit of movie trivia, is actually the same coat that Angel bought for him from a street vendor earlier in the movie) to provide Mimi with an improvised blanket, he runs over to the phone to call 9-1-1, leaving Roger to comfort Mimi.  As Mimi tries to tell Roger that there was nothing between her and Benny, Roger insists that he already knows and then begins to apologize for leaving, insisting that it wasn't because he didn't care about her.  The weakened Mimi cuts him off in mid-apology, stating that she already knows what he wants to say, and then tells Roger that she loves him. 

            Roger, visibly distraught over how ill Mimi has become since he’d last seen her, begs her to hold on because there’s something she has to hear.  He then proceeds to sing the song that he’d written during his return trip from Santa Fe, which is entitled ‘Your Eyes.’  In this song, Roger tells Mimi he couldn't get her out of his mind while he was off in Santa Fe, and that she had captivated him from the moment she entered his life.  The song also states that Roger regrets letting her slip away, because he’s always loved her.  The moment Roger makes his confession, Mimi’s body goes limp as she passes away.  And for the record, this is the point in the film when I started to cry.  You might find it weird that I cried at Mimi’s death when I got through the death of Angel completely dry-eyed.  In my defense, I didn't find Angel’s character to be really fleshed out, so I didn't know that much about him/her before his/her death.  It’s rather hard to shed many tears over someone you knew next to nothing about.  That and, as I stated earlier, I felt the whole romance between Angel and Collins practically came out of nowhere, which made it hard for me to be really invested in their relationship.  On the other hand, Roger and Mimi’s relationship had been a primary focus through most of the movie.  We saw that romance go through highs and lows, with their love being put through some rather serious tests.  So by the time we get to the whole ‘Your Eyes’ scene, I was really rooting for these two to be together in the end.  The fact that these two characters have come so far since the start of the movie only to have the girl die right when they finally confess their love was simply crushing to me.

            As Mark, Collins, Maureen and Joanne keep a respectful distance, Roger sobs over Mimi’s lifeless body.  At that moment, Mimi’s hand miraculously starts to twitch, and she somehow comes back to life.  Needless to say, everyone is stunned to the point of silence.  As Mimi gets her bearings, she explains to her reasonably confused friends that she was heading to a warm, white light, but was stopped by Angel, who, according to Mimi, looked good.  Mimi then pauses and turns to look directly at Roger, stating that Angel told her to turn around and “listen to that boy’s song.”  Roger responds by choking back a sob and pulling Mimi close.  Maureen, upon feeling Mimi’s forehead, announces that her fever is breaking.  As the six friends rejoice in the fact that Mimi is now back with them, a jubilant Mark strides over to his projector to showcase his finished documentary, which he has entitled ‘Today 4 U,’ an obvious tribute to Angel.  The documentary is revealed to be a testament to everything the Bohemians had done throughout the past year.  The movie ends with everyone watching Mark’s documentary, relishing in their friendship and vowing to live by the mantra ‘No Day But Today’ by not letting the fear of the future stop them from treasuring the time they have together.

            To this day, RENT remains one of the most treasured movies in my DVD collection.  I suppose it might be surprising that a movie with no actual plot beyond simply following a group of friends throughout an entire year would be so powerful and moving, but there are so many elements in this story that makes it very possible.  We've got a character struggling to overcome a serious drug addiction as she tries to choose between the drugs and the man she loves, another character who is still trying to come to terms with the knowledge that he has an illness that will one day be fatal, yet another character who has to live with the fact that his friends are slowly dying around him, two different romantic couples who have their relationship tested due to their own insecurities and difficulty in accepting each other’s faults, and a the very foundation of a seemingly close-knit family is shaken when one of their number dies.  What makes this story even greater is how real the characters are.  All the characters in this story have their negative qualities.  Not one character is perfect.  Even the character of Angel, who is frequently spoken of like a saint after his/her death, had some questionable qualities.  (Remember that Angel practically killed someone’s dog and pretty much laughed about it afterwards.)  In spite of these negative qualities, each character is still likable and someone you could even root for.  These people might do some questionable things, but they're all still good people.  Even Benny, who is virtually painted as a bad guy, isn't a true villain.  He’s trying to work for the greater good, but his methods to accomplish that goal end up creating an estrangement between him and his friends.  The whole Benny vs. the Bohemians element brings an interesting debate to the story.  Is Benny right, or are the Bohemians right?  Is it better to hold true to your ideals or to put more emphasis on receiving a steady paycheck?  Could it be that both sides have a good point, and the right answer is something in-between?  What if there is no right answer?  RENT leaves it up to us to form our own conclusion.

            As I've already stated, there are indeed some aspects in this story that are rather strange when you think about them, whether it’s the musical lyrics, as is the case with such songs as ‘Over the Moon’ and ‘I Should Tell You’ or issues with the passage of time, like the fact that the life support meetings are being held three days in a row in the beginning.  Of course, with the musical numbers, the oddness is pretty much intentional for the reasons I covered earlier.  As for the time issues, this is simply due the obvious difficulty of translating the stage musical into a movie format. And for the record, I do admittedly prefer the movie version of RENT over the stage musical.  While the stage musical is good in its own way, I don’t think I would have followed the stage musical very well if I hadn't seen the movie first. (Others may feel the opposite, but I suppose all RENT fans are inclined to prefer the version they saw first.)  Besides, I think the movie version handled the scene when Mimi dies and comes back to life far better than the stage musical did.  With the stage musical, Mimi practically pops right up again like a jack-in-the-box, and her delivery of the whole ‘I saw Angel and she looked good’ line almost comes across as a joke.  When Mimi comes back to life in the movie, she still looks and sounds weak and lethargic, as one would expect of someone who had been very sick moments before.  That, and her delivery of the above-mentioned line is much more believable.

            Before I finish this review, I probably should address this.  As was already stated, RENT is a stage-musical-turned-movie.  The original stage musical was the creation of an American composer and playwright, Jonathan Larson.  His intent on creating RENT, which is considered to be his magnum opus, was to create a musical inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera, La Bohème.  And for those of you who have seen this opera, you will definitely see the parallels between both stories, with one significant difference.  In the original opera, the character RENT’s Mimi is based on did not come back to life. (After all, how many operas have a happy ending?) However, Larson chose to alter the ending, as he wanted his musical to end with life rather than death.  While RENT started off as a staged reading at The New York Theater Workshop in 1993, after a three-year-long collaborative and editing process, the version of Larson’s musical RENT that is now known worldwide was ready to be performed.  Tragically, on January 25, 1996, the morning of RENT’s opening night off-broadway, Larson died of an aortic dissection, which is believed to have been connected to his undiagnosed Marfan syndrome.  Despite his death, it was decided that the show would be performed as-scheduled, and at the show’s conclusion, in the silence that followed the applause, an audience member called out "Thank you, Jonathan Larson."  The identity of this audience member is, to my knowledge, unknown, but I wholeheartedly echo that sentiment.