In the Heights
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s valentine to New York (and its bursting diversity) is given a cinematic treatment to celebrate.
The Heights in question are the Washington Heights of New York City, a largely Hispanic neighbourhood in Upper Manhattan. It’s the backdrop of the Tony-winning 2008 Broadway musical conceived and composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the songwriter and playwright still best known for his 2015 hit Hamilton. Here he weaves together a number of musical genres from the Caribbean and South America, creating a vast, complex tapestry of life, hope and diversity. Watching it is like first encountering West Side Story, the 1957 show that ushered in a new brand of grown-up, sophisticated musical theatre. With John M. Chu behind the camera, the film version of In the Heights is a cinematic triumph, its principals represented by four superlative, likeable leads, while Christopher Scott’s choreography pushes new boundaries of what is cinematically possible. A Busby Berkeley pastiche, in particular, set in a swimming pool (to the number ‘96,000’), is an eye-popping spectacle, complete with aquatic contortionists. Likewise, a gravity-defying pas de deux between Corey Hawkins and Leslie Grace (on ‘When the Sun Goes Down’) is a gorgeous original.
Set across three days of a typically sultry New York heatwave, the story introduces us to Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos), the owner of a small grocery store. It is he who regales four attentive children with the events of the film, kicking off a dynamic pre-credit sequence with the hip-hop number ‘In the Heights’. We are then introduced to the handsome Benny (Hawkins), who works for a taxi company; Stanford student Nina Rosario (Grace, a nascent Jennifer Lopez); and Vanessa Morales (Melissa Barrera), a nail painter with an eye for designing fashion. All four have dreams of a better life and of escaping the constraints of their upbringing and the racism surrounding it.
With an alleged budget of $55 million, little expense is spared, in spite of the story’s relatively limited stage. Up to 500 extras were employed for the ‘96,000’ sequence and the background dancers are astonishingly accomplished. In fact, there is so much going on, both directly in front of the camera and in the background, that it proves quite an effort to keep up. One senses that a subsequent viewing should provide more pleasure, particularly as one becomes more familiar with the musical numbers. Spoiled as we are by so many jukebox musicals, the attention span for a whole new songbook, along with its smattering of different musical styles, is an initial challenge. Even so, Miranda is a terrific wordsmith and has enormous fun with his lyrics, rhyming “Christmas” with “hipsters” and “test you later” with “escalator.” And the charisma and good looks of Ramos, Hawkins, Grace and Barrera, the sharp hues and sweeping camerawork of Alice Brooks – along with Scott’s terrific dance routines – beguile the eye as the ear is stretched. It certainly whets the appetite for Steven Spielberg’s reinvention of West Side Story come December (world events permitting).
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Marc Anthony, Jimmy Smits, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, Noah Catala, Ariana Greenblatt, Olivia Perez, Analia Gomez, Ariana S. Gómez, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Dir John M. Chu, Pro Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Scott Sanders, Anthony Bregman and Mara Jacobs, Screenplay Quiara Alegría Hudes, Ph Alice Brooks, Pro Des Nelson Coates, Ed Myron Kerstein, Music Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, Costumes Mitchell Travers, Choreography Christopher Scott, Dialect coach Jerome Butler.
5000 Broadway Productions/Barrio Grrrl! Productions/Likely Story/SGS Pictures/Endeavor Content-Warner Bros.
143 mins. USA. 2021. Rel: 18 June 2021. Cert. PG.
