Rated: PG
Directed by: Jon M Chu
Produced by: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Lesley Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphine Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco and Jimmy Smits.
‘I’m home.’
It’s three days until the blackout. And it’s hot in Washington Heights.
Everyone in the block is fanning themselves as they dream their sueñito: little dream.
Bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) dreams of running his father’s beach bar back in the Dominican Republic.
Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) dreams of becoming a fashion designer.
In The Heights is colourful and full of soul, hope and love as everyone fights for their own little dream. And there’s singing. The entire movie is singing.
I know that it’s a musical. I’m not saying I completely ignored the advertising. But when I say the entire movie, I mean there’s signing about everything: coffee, fireworks, all the dialogue.
It took me a good long while to warm up because it was all a bit overwhelming and at the start all I could think was, can you please stop singing!
Then Nina (Lesley Grace), returned-from-college, and boyfriend-left-behind, Ben (Corey Hawkins) start with these absolutely pristine, stunning voices and it all kinda started to click.
The story has layers: the classic making a move when it’s too late, looking everywhere but what’s in front; there’s change and dealing with that change, the struggle to keep working everyday, just to make ends meet; and how some take a run at their dream only to realise it’s not what they really want at all.
Sometimes it’s just about adding details to hold dignity.
Aunt to everyone in the block, Abula Claudia takes the time to share the hardship of her mother travelling to America, to work as a maid, who covered her red worked hands with beautiful velvet gloves because it felt nice to wear those gloves. She would create something special by stitching intricate patterns into cloth. To hold dignity in the little things.
And this detail translates into the film itself, a musical not just for show but surprise with all those extra flourishes in the choreography and blending of animation into a scene or to dance on the side of a building to tilt the world, to have bolts of cloth unravel, up in the sky while running so fast underneath. All these details gave this musical its own dignity.
I admit, I am not a fan of musicals, especially when the characters sing about what they’re doing from one moment to next. But there’s real beauty here, with just a touch of magic.