"Arts and Lifestyle Wednesday Presented by Cinematic Visions"-Hot Summer Joy
This review is a bit of a celebration for me. I have not reviewed a new film for this space in over a year. With Covid shutting down movie theaters, I just didn’t feel the urge to bring my opinions to entertainments that are streamed. Not that there are not many worthy things that have kept our spirits rolling during this dreadful time, but I feel like a new cinematic release deserves to be seen in a theater, and the theater is certainly the best spot for what follows.
Another of the indications of our thirst for a return to normalcy is the reaction to the new musical film “In the Heights”, an adaptation of the 2008 Tony Award winning debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who of course went on to mega-fame with “Hamilton”. “Heights” is an extremely enjoyable and frenetic piece directed by Jon M. Chu, whose previous film was “Crazy Rich Asians”. This movie bears some resemblance to that movie in the fact that both are fairly standard fare, extremely well-executed. Chu has a real love of cinema, and it shows, and his bright and energetic style works in both films. But I have seen many reviewers, including a couple I consider go-to sources when I am deciding whether to attend a film, who have written full-blown raves for this charming film. I can’t quite go there.
This is the very personal story of the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City, and is set in the early 2000’s. The melting pot of mostly Hispanic culture, particularly Dominican Republic, is the essence of the tale. Struggling, hard-working people, pursuing dreams or endeavoring to find them. It weaves a few tales into what is a pretty much non-stop musical piece. Miranda’s formula, familiar to millions from “Hamilton”, combines hip-hop with traditional Broadway composing, a mix that works here, but was refined much further for the more substantive “Hamilton”.
Miranda played the central role of Usnavi (the first thing his father saw in America was a ship with “U.S. Navy on the side) on the stage, but has been ceded to Anthony Ramos here, with Miranda in a sweet small part as the Piragua Guy, a street vendor selling shaved ice from a push cart. Ramos is excellent as the bodega owner, who has taken over the family business, but dreams of returning to the Dominican and opening a beach bar. Ramos mix of strength with likable vulnerability is vital in a part where he narrates the tale in a couple of forms, in voice-over, and in story-telling to children on a Dominican beach
A few character’s stories form the narrative. In addition to Usnavi, there is Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), a neighborhood beauty who captivates Usnavi (and about every other young man around). She works in a beauty salon owned by Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), whose business reflects the coming gentrification of the area, as she is moving soon due to rising rent. The salon is staffed by an entertaining group of gossipy motormouths, and is the setting for some of many fun singing and dancing moments. Vanessa yearns to be a fashion designer, and badly wants to use her hard-earned salon money to move to nicer digs downtown, but is rebuffed often by credit issues.
Nina (Leslie Grace) is the neighborhood success story, a brilliant student who earns a ticket to Stanford, but one that has already caused her single father Kevin (Jimmy Smits), to sell off half his taxi business to assist with her finances. Nina is home for the summer from her freshman year, silently planning to drop out after far less than welcoming treatment at the university. Kevin, and the whole neighborhood, has somewhat hung their collective hat on Nina’s dream, and she feels the weight of it. Corey Hawkins plays Benny, who adores Nina, works for Kevin, and is buddies with Usnavi. The only major role reprised from the Broadway show is Abuela Claudia (a sweet and strong Olga Merediz), who helped raise Usnavi (and plenty of others) after he was orphaned, and is the neighborhood matriarch. Many smiles are provided by Sonny (an excellent Gregory Diaz IV), Usnavi’s younger cousin, who works for him at the bodega, and has dreams of his own.
The film explodes right out of the block with a lengthy production number fabulously introducing us to the neighborhood with it’s charms and challenges. Scores of dancers are used, usually shot wide, as opposed to in frenetic closeups, and the exuberance is infectious. The choreography by Christopher Scott is natural and organic. You really get the feeling that actual people, not trained dancers, are up there on screen. The pace is relentless after that, in my mind a bit to a fault. Quiet moments are pretty much left to the final act, and a couple drag just a bit.
The story lines are predictable, but one catchy number after another keeps any feeling of the mundane far off to the side. There are a few “showstopper” type moments, perhaps most notably “96,000” (a lottery tickets winning prize) and “Carnival de Barrio” near the finish. ““96,000” highlights Chu’s varied love of cinema, with extremely modern and sexy pool dancing, combined with Busby Berkeley-style overhead kaleidoscope shots of the swimmers. The story plays out over several increasingly hot summer days leading to a blackout, and another highlight moment, “Fireworks in the Sky”. There are a couple of neat plot twists, not exactly shockers, but quite fun.
The film gets a touch melodramatic at the end, but, again, the musical numbers, and optimistic nature of the story mitigate those concerns. “In the Heights”, has some strong messages to send but delivers them with great hope, despite the challenges being faced in a community that everyone realizes is slowly slipping away from them.
Flawed but fun, full of life and likable performances, “In the Heights” comes at a great time. We can all use a dose of it’s well-crafted songs, undeniable energy, flashy fun, and dancing that makes you feel like you could join in too. At nearly two and a half hours long, the film probably could have used a bit of tightening up, but it hardly staggered to the finish. You will leave the theater feeling like you just had the best shaved ice ever, served up by the Piragua Guy.
Miranda himself has served up an entertainment that is perfect for this moment in time, a great way to welcome people back to the movie theater. Seeing the progression from “Heights” to “Hamilton”, only makes me very anxious to see what’s in store for a man still just 41.
For now I’ll relish this little bit of cool, refreshing, goodness.
Clink Scale 7.4
