had no idea that writing musical theater is the single most important act a human being can do on this earth!!! i am unfortunately not immune to the over-earnest Big Feelings here. this is more of a shrine to Jonathan Larson and his realized and unrealized promise than a telling of his story, which we've seen enough to know the basic dynamics of a singleminded creative who neglects everyone around him for the sake of the work. in terms of blending of life and art and the process of writing a musical, this is not super deft, and Miranda's manic workshop-within-life-within-workshop framing is both the reason (we skip through Larson's life on almost fast forward to get to the songs that are derived from said life) and the distraction to cover it up. but really the selling point is Andrew Garfield and, most importantly, the songs, which are mostly god dang bangers. have almost no relationship to Rent, so i only know Larson's style from the derivative no-cultural-impact knockoffs you'd see on Broadway in the early 2000's. but if you're gonna do it, you might as well go with the template. we love "30/90", "Come to Your Senses", "Johnny Can't Decide" and the face awards song.

also between this and The Social Network scarf burning scene, Andrew Garfield needs just one more movie to complete his "nearly crying from being busy while his girlfriend needs his attention" trilogy.