TICK, TICK... BOOM! ***1/2
Lin-Manuel Miranda2021
IDEA: Playwright Jonathan Larson struggles to get his new production off the ground in the months leading up to his dreaded 30th birthday.
BLURB: Among the many things tick, tick… BOOM! gets acutely right about the foibles of the creative process is how narrowed one’s consciousness can become when devoted to a project. Art can be a laborious, crazy-making idée fixe as much as a pleasure, and for Andrew Garfield’s Jonathan Larson, it’s an obsession that often clouds out the rest of the world, right when he needs it the most. Lin-Manual Miranda’s film also potently understands, and beautifully embodies, the transformations that take place in the channeling of life into art, not just within the artist and the “original” work, but through the myriad of others who come into contact with that work, from those who give it new life, like Miranda, to audiences whose engagement advances its legacy. This tick, tick… BOOM! is a marvel of an adaptation because it recognizes all art, in some way, as fundamentally adapted, as the translation of lifeworld intentions and contingencies that continue to evolve long beyond their conceptions, fanning out infinitely from a subjective point of origin. There are numerous other things the film is perceptive and agile about, from its depiction of the eternal conflict between artistic integrity and capitalism to how it refuses to soften, demonize, or excuse the navel-gazing proclivities of its subject. Importantly, Miranda’s tick, tick… BOOM! is also just a blast, a spry, inventive, and full-hearted testament to the crucibles of time and creation, powered by the gigawatt charisma and grace of Andrew Garfield’s career-best performance.
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