TICK, TICK... BOOM!

TICK, TICK... BOOM! tells the story of Jonathan Larson before Rent, before Broadway fame, before everything. Set in 1990 New York, the film follows Larson as he struggles to finish a musical while working in a diner and watching his friends choose more stable lives. The ticking clock is both literal and existential.

Music is the emotional engine. Larson’s songs fuse rock with musical theatre in a way that would later redefine Broadway. Lin-Manuel Miranda directs with precision and admiration, understanding how revolutionary Rent would become for a generation of artists and audiences. Andrew Garfield performs the songs himself, bringing urgency and vulnerability to every note.

Beyond biography, this is a film about creative anxiety. It captures the fear of turning thirty without having “made it,” the tension between art and survival, and the belief that one great work might justify everything. Seeing it at FOMO is guaranteed to amplify the intimacy of the performances and the scale of the music.