Disarm Some, Neglect Others
written by Devin Baron
tick…tick…BOOM! is an anxious film to its core. That should not be taken as an attribute of uneasiness. Rather, I use the word anxious as praise for its unwillingness to disengage the audience from the goal that we’re chasing or the deadline we’re approaching. Like Jonathan Larson, the film’s protagonist played by Andrew Garfield, we are constantly being reminded of the explosions that await us while we continue to frantically struggle in our efforts to disarm them all. While watching, we often feel like we’re being thinly stretched between everything and everyone in Jonathan’s life, while at the same time, we can’t help but notice that one bomb’s timer feels most important, consuming us; the more time that we spend worrying about the million other clocks, the less time we have before the timer on the biggest bomb runs out.
Jonathan battles mental turmoil, seeing his age and the lack of advancement in his writing career as a potential sign to move on from his musical theatre dreams, while still being unsure that he could ever let himself enjoy a different lifestyle. He must figure out if he prefers the luxury of a cage or the sometimes-harsh freedom of wings, while simultaneously assessing whether it is fear or love that is driving his preference at that moment.
Alongside Andrew Garfield, this movie stars Alexandra Shipp as Susan and Robin de Jesus as Michael. Though like Jonathan, we may not place lots of importance on their roles, they exemplify some of the other themes that Jonathan, and in turn, we as an audience, are forced to wrestle with. Jonathan’s obsession over his lifelong dream often leaves Susan neglected, emphasizing the difficulty of maintaining a balance between one’s diligence to a craft and one’s love for those around him. Michael also rarely receives Jonathan’s attention until suddenly Michael’s days are numbered; only then, after a tragedy, is Jonathan aware that he hasn’t made it clear how much Michael truly means to him. We see Jonathan work extremely hard towards an amazing feat, but we also see that he must make amazing sacrifices to accomplish this feat.
While the film’s plot is driven by an approaching deadline, it is steered by a uniquely intercut narration that doesn’t feel like a narration at all. We are masterfully thrown back and forth from Jonathan’s live performance of his autobiographical musical tick…tick…BOOM!, to the period that he is telling us about in that very play --- the week leading up to his big break, a workshop for his musical titled Superbia.
The one diner song titled “Sunday” seems out of place in the film, possibly because it is not crosscut with anything else, a quality with which most of the soundtrack coincides. Despite not being a fan of “Sunday,” I thought every other track was perfectly placed, meshing wonderfully into the storyline. I never once cringed at the sound of a needle drop, as I listened to the voices and watched the choreography of a musical that knew exactly what it was and never tried to be anything else.
A musical with this style of back and forth, yet seamless plot structure can’t help but show off a brilliant execution of post-work. I was joyful to see, when checking the Oscar Nominations for Best Film Editing, that this made this list. If Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum win the award for this editing masterpiece, it’ll be well-deserved.
I can’t wrap up the review without recognizing Lin-Manuel Miranda, as this was his directorial debut. While he and his sound have been known for a while now, tick…tick…BOOM!, at the very least, shows that there’s a lot of greatness to come if he sticks with this directing thing.