OnScreen Review: "In The Heights"
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
There has been a lot of buzz about and anticipation for In The Heights. Originally intended for a June 2020 theatrical release, it was pushed back nearly a full year due to Covid-19 Pandemic. Released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, this adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical of the same name, In the Heights is unquestionably an indication that movies and summer are here.
In The Heights is a well-balanced ensemble story featuring multiple generations. It immerses you in the sights and sounds, life, and culture of Washington Heights, an Upper Manhattan neighborhood of New York City with a strong Latino population, predominantly Dominican Republic, but during a period of transition as the neighborhood is beginning to experience gentrification. Despite the uncertainty of the future, maybe even because of it, this is an incredibly upbeat musical that lives in the vibrancy of the moment. It’s a celebration of community and pride in your heritage and neighborhood.
I’ve seen some discussion surrounding this film, adapted by director Joh M. Chu, regarding representation and whether every group is being given an opportunity to be seen in this film. There is likely an ownership, personal attachment, and investment in the stories being told here, but no movie is going to be perfect in this regard, and you cannot let perfect be the enemy of the good.
I am reminded of what Roger Ebert once said:
Movies are the most powerful empathy machine in all the arts. When I go to a great movie I can live somebody else's life for a while. I can walk in somebody else's shoes. I can see what it feels like to be a member of a different gender, a different race, a different economic class, to live in a different time, to have a different belief.
There have been few movies in recent memory that have granted me a glimpse to experience life outside of my own quite like In The Heights. And that glimpse has rarely been as glossy and exuberant. What works for it is that while the story is seen through the prism of the immigrant community in Washington Heights, it’s ultimately a universal story because it is a story of people pursuing their little dream (“El Sueñito”). Following your dream is a story that practically everyone can relate to, even a 40-year-old white guy like me who lives in Maine like me. I’m grateful for movies like this that can walk around in someone else’s shoes for a while and see the world through their eyes. And what a wonderful world it is.
So much of the essential plot elements of this story grow out of the pursuit of dreams. Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), the bodega owner, dreams to return to the Dominican Republic and restore his father’s old beach business. Kevin Rosario (Jimmy Smits) owns a successful taxi company and wants his daughter to succeed in college at Stanford. His daughter Nina (Leslie Grace) is struggling to figure out dreams of her own and feels burdened by her father’s dreams. Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), is in the process of moving her salon. And Vanessa, the girl Usnavi cannot muster the courage to ask out, aspires to be a fashion designer. Even the matriarch of the community, Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) has dreams and hopes, not just for herself but for Usnavi and all of the children she has been an unofficial grandmother to for years. And a blackout in the midst of a heatwave looms over all of it.
These are just some of the dreams on display that are brought to life in catchy song after catchy song. I’ll leave it to people more attuned to theater and musicals to sing the praises of the music numbers, but almost all of them worked for me and even the flourishes of the occasional magical realism (particularly in “When the Sun Goes Down”) are artistically employed to heighten (no pun intended) the love between characters or a love they have for the neighborhood. When it is reveled that someone won the lottery through Usnavi’s bodega, “$96,0000” puts the dreams of practically everyone in the neighborhood on display at the public pool. And this is a film that is not afraid to go big, both in the music and the visuals. I usually only say this about big blockbuster spectacles from someone like Christopher Nolan, but having seen this from the comfort of my living room, this is a film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible, no matter how good your TV is.
I do not think it is hyperbole to say that In The Heights is one of the most evocative movies of place and community that I have seen in recent years. In terms of the affection that is on display for this neighborhood, you could easily slide it into the mix with Manhattan and Do the Right Thing as love letters for New York City. This musical was originally written Miranda, and his love for his roots shines through so clearly and Chu and the production team have also clearly taken great care to bring this Washington Heights community to life in so many small details. The close-knit aspect of the community on display is also a highlight of the film.
There are only one minor nitpick I had with the film, which was the framing narrative involving Usnavi telling the story of Washington Heights to a group of children on the beach; I was not surprised to find out that is it apparently not part of the musical, but something added onto the film. While it is a useful device for making the song and dance of it all more acceptable as a story being told by Usnavi, it is definitely a misdirect by Chu and Quiara Alegria Hudes who wrote the screenplay and feels like a cheat, however minor it may be.
Lin-Manuel Miranda first conceived of In The Heights back in 1999, it hit Broadway in 2008 and was nearly made into a movie then. When Hamilton hit it big in 2015, interest was renewed in adapting it. A global pandemic ultimately added another year to the wait. It has been a 22-year journey to bring this musical to the big screen. The final product is one that is full of joyous filmmaking, big little dreams, and an unabashed love for the community it was birthed from. Regardless of where you come in on this 22-year odyssey to the big screen for In The Heights, the wait was worth it.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
(In The Heights is in theaters and streaming on HBO Max through July 10th.)