tick, tick… BOOM! (2021)

1h 55m / PG-13 / Musical Drama

Lin-Manuel Miranda has three Tonys, three Grammys, a Pulitzer, two primetime Emmys, two Olivier awards, a MacArthur Genius grant and honors from the Kennedy Center. What worlds are there left to conquer besides winning Olympic gold and directing a movie? And since the pandemic has pushed the price of used rowing machines through the roof, presumably he decided to take a seat in the director’s chair first.

Tick, Tick… Boom!, Miranda’s directorial debut, is a semi-biographical take on Jonathan Larson (the composer of Rent, the cultural cross-over Broadway musical that really paved the way for Hamilton to take over the planet). Academy Award nominee & Tony Award winner Andrew Garfield stars as Jon, a young theater composer who’s waiting tables at a diner in 1990 while writing what he hopes will be the next great American musical. Days before he’s due to showcase his work in a make-or-break performance, Jon is feeling the pressure from everywhere — his girlfriend Susan dreams of an artistic life beyond New York City, his friend Michael has opted out of art for the stability of the rat-race, and the AIDS epidemic is ravaging his creative community. The clock is ticking; what are we meant to do with the time we have?