Even without Andrew Garfield's shocking display of superb acting and singing, this movie is an absolute zenith of 2021 cinema. Every actor in this delivers both the emotional and joyful scenes with such finesse and believability. This is clearly the best Netflix Original Movie of the year. I mean come the hell on who even wants to remember Don't Look Up!?
Before I begin lavishing this movie with the many compliments it deserves, I feel it only necessary to point out my few minor flaws with it. First of all, I find major missed opportunity with Jon's play members, Karessa and Roger. They seemed like pretty talented actors and the few scenes where they got to talk (or do anything at all) were great, and Boho Days was the best song in the movie.
Speaking of which that brings me to my second criticism of the film. The songs are really subpar. Three of them are actually great. The aforementioned Boho Days is fun and has great lyrics, 30/90 is a near-perfect opener that slips off-beat a little, but makes up for it by introducing us to the character and giving insight into his life and internal struggles, and same goes for Johnny Can't Decide, it's a little overly on-the-nose but it's still written well. But other than that the songs are nothing special and a few are downright bad. The brunch song Sunday, and No More are really off-beat and aren't rhythmic at all. There are a few dull ones in the first half, but once it's announced that Jon needs to write a song they get really bad.
Well those are all my criticisms, and I feel like they are a perfect segway into my first point, I absolutely LOVE the way the songs in this movie are! Unlike in a Disney movie, this is a musical where the song progresses the plot, and these do that PERFECTLY. The songs after we figure out that Jon needs a song for the end of Superbia's second act are terrible and so inconsistent, because everything Jon made was probably really bad for a while too. The themes of each song were so all over the place because he was trying all sorts of different things out to find the right style. The soundtrack and the plot fit together so well in the second act. And then the climax nails everything perfectly right after the song is made. Everything about this movie is so coherent and I love that.
Speaking of which, the climax is exactly what come to mind when I think of the word cinema. The ticking growing increasingly louder with each stroke, Jonathan narrating himself as he's running endlessly, trying to escape everything, and Michael breaking down and repeatedly singing "Is this real life?" in the background, the entire thing is perfect. After seeing everything unfold in the first two acts, and watching each of these characters finally be broken by the crappy life they've gotten, you finally feel it, the pain, sorrow and anxiety they've been feeling for so long. Lin-Manuel Miranda's directing in this is striking and definitely deserved a nomination. I cannot wait to see him do more films in the future and feel quite optimistic for his future.
And then of course there's Andrew Garfield. I have never been more shocked by an actor's performance than I was with him. The way he portrays the character here is otherworldly. You can tell Jon is feeling so many different emotions yet you can tell just by his facial expressions each one he's feeling and how strong they are. And his singing!? Did you know he had the voice of a male Whitney Houston!? Because he does! He legit sounds like he's been a professional musical actor his entire life. And he definitely hasn't. He learned how to sing AND play piano specifically for this movie, and thanks to lessons from Liz Caplan, his vocal coach, he became this good at singing. In one year...
It's not only his vocal talent that deserves to be credited here, but Garfield's stage presence is phenomenal! Unlike the singing part, Andrew has been good at alluring viewers' attention for a while. He knows how to act crazy or quirky in a role and still make the character feel grounded and realistic. He displays this perfectly in the music sequences, songs like No More or Therapy are pretty bad, but when you're watching Andrew Garfield just absolutely unleash, they become something bordering on entertaining.
Andrew Garfield carries this movie pretty hard. But a definite exception to that would be Robin De Jesus. He needs no help. His performance is nowhere near as good and Garfield's, but he still does a surreal job. Don't Look Up's best picture nomination was enraging sure, but Robin De Jesus being ignored for Best Supporting Actor may just be worse, I haven't gotten to watch the actors nominated in their respective films yet. But I'm going to go ahead and guess that he did better than at least one of them. The depth he brings to the role of Michael isn't talked about enough. His acting makes the character shine so much brighter than the rest of the supporting cast. The argument scene near the end of the second act is him sharing a scene with Garfield, who is having the best performance of his life, and yet Robin is not overshadowed at all. I was genuinely shaken by some of his lines, and the way he delivered them.
Not only do I love Tick, Tick...Boom! because it's a film that demonstrates a stunning level of Acting, Singing, Directing, and Editing, (I haven't talked about that but the editing in this is really great! There are some shots and camera angles that really stood out to me and that doesn't happen often.), but perhaps above all, it is a heavily relatable film for me that inspired me to reinvigorate my passion for movie screenwriting regardless of my age or my resources. Tick, Tick...Boom! shows us that even some of the legends of the arts have gone through periods where they've lost faith in themselves, or worse, their passions. It takes the stars down to our level and shows us that they were once going through the same thing as us starry-eyed daydreamers. And shows us that no matter how dark your creative journey may get, there's always a light at the end, whether or not you get to it depends on how long you're willing to hang on.
"I know it sounds like a cat poster, but it's true". - Vitruvius, The Lego Movie.
