After catching the eye in the Spiderman costume that is often associated with his name, this year Andrew Garfield came to surprise us again and assure us that his talent does not stop at a certain point, and that he has the magical ability to impress us with something new in every work he does. This time, Garfield's creativity appeared through the movie "Tick Tick Boom", which saw the light on November 23, 2021.
This film is one of those films that mix biography, drama, and music at the same time. "It's a first-class musical," said Lin-Manuel Miranda, the film's director.
Speaking of directing, this was Miranda's first experience as a director. Miranda is known for creating and composing many movie music, perhaps the most famous of them are Hamilton and Moana. However, this time he decided to break the norm and dazzle us too by revealing his hidden talents just as Garfield did by revealing his sweet singing voice. Each of them has challenged his abilities and artistic potential through this film,
Fear of time” in “Tick Tick Boom”
On the cusp of his thirtieth birthday, the film enters us, or rather we break into the life of Jonathan Larson, that young theater composer who sometimes dances on the ropes of his passion and the pressures of life around him at other times. Swaying on that thin line between hope and despair, all of that takes place under the skies of New York City in 1990.
The film begins with the sound of the clock ticking, minute by minute, and the sound of the clock never leaving Larson's mind, telling him with each passing minute that he must do something great as soon as possible. This strange fear grips him throughout the film, a fear that his time will run out before he can do anything.
Imagine with me spending eight years of your life trying to write a musical, and you can finish most of it, but you're left with one song that you'll never be able to compose, and the play wouldn't be complete without it. That's exactly how the movie begins with its hero, Larson.
From the past to the present, Miranda also moves us from the frank dialogue scenes to the narrator's narrative tone, and sometimes even he was able to masterfully combine both in one scene!
About "Tick Tick Boom" art critic Peter Trivers says: "Miranda and screenwriter Steve Levinson were able to capture that magic in Larson's story and make an extraordinary film."
Going back to the voice that occupies Larson's head, how will he deal with it? Will he listen to him and give that fear a chance to control it, or will he manage to escape from it and follow the steps of his passion where it leads?
What distinguishes this film from most biographical films is that it tells the story of a person's life and only, with all its failures, pitfalls, idealism and illogical decisions, and more than that, its story contains that voice that haunts all of us without exception and urges us to catch up with success.
In order to succeed, relationships are destroyed and destroyed
Have you ever found yourself saying “I’ll do everything after I’m done with this” or “I’ll be happiest once I get there”?
To postpone the entire course of your life for some time, to stop it on an event or a dream, and to stop your relationships with everyone around you. So is the price of success always the destruction of relationships? This is exactly what Larson found himself in the midst of, as we enter with him into a new stage, the stage of arranging priorities and balancing everything and giving himself a truce from the obsession with success that controls his mind strongly.
It is worth noting that "Tick Tick Boom" was originally a musical that Larson himself wrote and later considered an autobiography.
The film adopts the story of Larson's life in all its details and features, and with each scene that was shown, it was evident how much Garfield's passion is to bring Larson back to life through the screen. At the same time he has to emulate it and master it skillfully.
And this is what Garfield did, as he was able to reflect the features of Larson's life with all its turmoil and contradictions, and to make a bridge between him and the viewer so that Larson's feelings could be expressed directly.
Film critic Noel Murray says, "In my view, not everything Miranda, Levinson, and the crew tried to make in this movie worked, but even in its most chaotic state, the film carried a definite and unwavering message from the start."
Do what you know, make your own voice!
How do we deal with rejection or failure? How did Larson deal with him?
Next time, try writing about something you know.
Here Larson realized perfectly well that all this time he had been chasing a dream that never belonged to him, and that he had not even once given his voice a chance to drown out the sound of the clock that continually flickered in his mind. Larson realized that all the songs he had composed before weren't expressive enough, which is exactly what prompted him to write Tick Tick Boom and then Rent.
That musical, which has been on Broadway for 12 consecutive years, completely changed the concept of musicals and uprooted it by its roots, whether in its form or the issues it addressed.
The movie ends with us and there are still a lot of questions in Jonathon's mind that have been left unanswered, but in return he was able to silence the voice of Tick, Tick and make his own Boom alone.