tick, tick… Boom!

Available on Netflix.

Directed by Lin Manuel Mirnada, with Steven Levenson’s screenplay based on Jonathan Larson’s musical, is the screen version of tick, tick..Boom!. Based on Larson’s (Andrew Garfield) attempts to write and then get on Broadway his life’s work musical, Superpbia. Mostly set In 1990 ahead of Larson’s 30th birthday we follow his life as he attempts to complete the musical, his struggles, the behaviour that isolates him from those close and its impacts. All this told through a performance of his musical tick, tick…Boom! interspersed with flashes to the scenes that inspired it.

This film is a good example of judging a story in its whole. Because for the first two acts I struggled to engage with it. Yes there’s some fine songs and musical set pieces as you’d expect from Lin Manuel Miranda. Performances are good. Andrew Garfield is really watchable as Larson, delivering a musical performance that wasn’t something I realised he had in him. Alexandra Schipp as girl friend Susan and Robin de Jesus as best friend Michael both provide strong support amongst a good cast. But it all felt a little empty.

But it’s the final act that brings this all together. Built around the undercurrent of intolerance and particularly the attitudes to AIDS that pervades throughout the story. It is these threads that bring real heart to the story and engaged me fully in Larson’s story and more importantly the relationships with those close to him and the importance of them, even if he had occasionally lost sight of them.

While at times I found tick tick..Boom! Difficult to engage with, as it felt a little predictable. The emotional core of the film shines through in its final act and brings it all together, delivering an enjoyable telling of Larson’s story. That I rather enjoyed.