Tag: Musical

In The Heights

Rated: PGIn The Heights

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.

Sing Street

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★ 

Director: John CarneySing Street

Writer: John Carney

Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jack Reynor, Lucy Boynton, Kelly Thornton, Ben Carolan, Mark McKenna, Percy Chamburuka, Conor Hamilton, Karl Rice; Ian Kenny.

Whether it was the Irish accent, the characters or the 80s music (had a buddy with me who couldn’t help but sing along), Sing Street was a winner for me. 

I enjoyed director, John Carney’s previous film, Begin Again (2013) and the way music was incorporated into the story of Sing Street was very similar: stylised act used sparingly so it didn’t feel like a musical, just a film with a lot of music.  

And Sing Street had grit.  This is Ireland in the 1980s: lack of jobs and money, where alcoholism is rife and anyone who can escape to London is jumping on that ferry.

For those left.  It’s just a dream.

Conor Lalor’s (Ferdi Walsh-Peelo) parents are skint.  Money pressures lead to fighting, to tightening the belt.  Money has to be saved somewhere.  So Conor is transferred to the catholic school run by the Brothers featuring kids running amok.

Black-eyed and bullied, Conor meets the girl of his dreams, Raphina (Lucy Bonton).  A model, no less.  Showing courage, or just the power of teenage hormones, he invites Raphina to feature in a music video for his band.

She says, ‘Yeah maybe’.

Problem is, he doesn’t have a band.

This is a kid with a serious crush.  So he goes about putting together a band (Sing Street), the introduction of fellow band members and his brother, Brendan Lalor encouraging Conor, AKA, Cosmo, maps out the story of the film.  With 80s music featured, of course.

I’m talking boys with make-up and music from The Clash, The Cure, Duran Duran and many of the original tracks performed by Sing Street composed by Gary Clark (of the Northern Irish band, Relish) with John Carney able to take credit for co-writing a lot of the songs.  So that’s credit for directing, writing the script and writing songs?  That’s impressive. 

Also, this is an extremely hard film to make without becoming saccharine.  Thankfully, there was more meat to the story of boy has crush on girl out of reach, so I’ll put together a band and then she’ll love me.  This is film about escape from and the acceptance of all life can throw at you.  To plow through whatever the arguments, bullying and crap and to get on with it and create something else.  To feel something else.

It takes courage to reach.

I believed the shy Cosmo with his blushing cheeks, overcoming fear to reach for those stars.  And his muse, Raphina, could have been just a pretty yet annoying character, but she had class and philosophy – ‘That’s what love is Cosmo,’ she says.  ‘Happy-sad’.

Look, musicals aren’t really my thing – Glee?  Forget it!  But the way the music was incorporated into Sing Street was seamless.  And the tongue-in-cheek humour helped a lot, giving those few forgivable cheesy moments just the right touch to feel authentic.

 

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