Like, wow.
The sheer, dazzling exuberance of this film is breathtaking; we’ve rarely (never?) seen this much energy on the big screen.
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| Benny (Corey Hawkins, left) trades quips — and rat-a-tat lyrics — in the impressively stocked bodega run by Usnavi (Anthony Roberts, right), with assistance from hi younger cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV). |
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights already was a knockout on Broadway, winning four of its 13 Tony Award nominations (including, no kidding, Best Musical). Director Jon M. Chu and choreographer Christopher Scott have done the impossible here, by improving on perfection; they’ve “opened up” the play in a way that takes full advantage of the film medium.
When people talk about the cinematic “sense of wonder,” this is the sort of razzmatazz they’re thinking about.
In the Heights preceded Miranda’s Hamilton, and in some ways is more approachable and audience-friendly. It’s a bit shorter, and the character palette isn’t nearly as extensive. The interwoven stories are traditional — almost clichéd — but Miranda and co-scripter Quiara Alegría Hudes (who wrote the book for the stage production) make them fresh and vibrant, thanks to Miranda’s freestyle rap/patter/hip-hop musical signature: a style unmistakably his own.
Add plenty of salsa, R&B, bachata, merengue and pop — along with other stuff I likely couldn’t identify — and the result is, well, spectacular. Cinematographer Alice Brooks is kept very busy, and she rises to the occasion.
It all borders on light opera, but not quite; we do get moments of spoken dialogue in between the two dozen (or so) musical numbers.
Events take place over the course of a few days, in the primarily Dominican neighborhood of New York City’s Washington Heights. Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos) owns and runs a small bodega, assisted by his younger cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV); the establishment, adjacent to the 181st Street subway stop, is something of a focal point for all the locals, who find a reason to visit at least once a day.
Usnavi also narrates this saga, via a framing device set somewhen else, and someplace else — a beach? — while four enthralled young listeners hang onto every word.
He has long been sweet on the stunningly gorgeous Vanessa (Melissa Barrera). She works in a neighborhood salon run by the larger-than-life Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), who cheerfully encourages the often racy gossip exchanged among her clientele. Alas, Usnavi lacks the courage to approach Vanessa, who — although friendly — seems oblivious; she dreams of a high-profile career in fashion about 170 blocks south of the Heights.
As the story opens, Nina Rosario (Leslie Grace) has just returned home for the summer. Everybody gives her a hero’s welcome, because she’s “the one who made it out,” having begun a college career at Stanford University, all the way across the country.
Alas, Nina knows she doesn’t deserve such admiration, having dropped out after becoming overburdened … and culturally isolated.
The script’s jabs at racism are infrequent but telling. Nina recounts a school “mixer” dominated by the wealthy elite, where one attendee automatically assumed she was the hired help. Vanessa, seeking an apartment in her desired upscale location, is humiliated by a real estate agent who blows her off, saying “Maybe your parents could co-sign, assuming they can prove income 40 times the rent” … a demand she clearly doesn’t make of the next (white) clients.
Nina is particularly dismayed by her father, Kevin (Jimmy Smits), who keeps making ill-advised financial decisions in order to keep paying the college tuition she no longer needs or wants. Kevin runs a car call center where Benny (Corey Hawkins) works as a dispatcher; he’s in love with Nina, which annoys Kevin because he doesn’t want anybody “holding his daughter back.”
Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) is a loving, wisdom-dispensing matriarch, who raised Usnavi when his parents died, and has sorta-kinda “adopted” everybody else in the barrio.
Miranda — who played Usnavi during the Broadway run — gives himself the role of the owner of a small piragua (shaved ice) stand, which often is targeted by a rival Mister Softee truck.
All of these characters — and most of the songs — act in service of themes of home, heritage, love, hope, ambition and loyalty. The latter particularly concerns allegiance to the neighborhood itself, where gentrification is diminishing the number of Mom-and-Pop shops in favor of corporate chain stores. Something real and tangible — a community’s soul and spirit — is in danger of being lost (and boy, that sure resonates).
Musicals are — by their nature — an aggressively artificial story form. But when done this well, this cleverly, the rhythmic passion supports and fuels the drama just as effectively as conventional line readings.
Nelson Coates’ production design is flamboyantly colorful and impressively meticulous: a character in its own right, acknowledged by a telling lyric (“little details that tell the world we are not invisible”). Mitchell Travers’ costume design is equally striking: particularly with the “casual” outfits worn by Barrera’s Vanessa.
No superlatives can adequately praise Scott’s choreography, which runs the imaginative gamut from hip-hop and ballet to contemporary dance and a colossal swimming pool number — staged in the massive Highbridge Park public pool — that riffs Busby Berkeley. The stand-out showpiece, however, is a marvelous pas de deux by Nina and Benny, leaping from an apartment balcony and continuing on the vertical side of the building (shades of Fred Astaire, in Royal Wedding).
The best part? As Chu proudly reveals, in the press notes, no dance doubles or voiceover singers were used; all cast members do their own stuff … and that certainly enhances the energy.
Ramos is smooth and comfortable in his role, having played Usnavi in an earlier stage production. Ramos exudes an easygoing warmth that makes it easy to understand why everybody in the neighborhood would gravitate toward Usnavi. He also has a killer smile and a twinkle in his eye, particularly when he cheekily breaks the fourth wall.
Merediz radiates patience, wisdom and grandmotherly love; we can’t imagine anybody remaining unhappy or angry in Abuela Claudia’s presence. Diaz’s Sonny, while well-meaning, is a bit of a know-it-all who clearly doesn’t know it all. Smits displays a condescending, father-is-right attitude that annoys us, just as much as it infuriates his daughter.
Barrera and Grace excel at bringing individual touches to similarly passionate and frustrated young women who are determined not to be defined by their gender, cultural heritage or financial limitations.
Rubin-Vega’s Daniela is a hoot and a half, particularly when trading pungent asides with her equally glitzy partners-in-gossip, Carla (Stephanie Beatriz) and Cuca (Dascha Polanco).
Cinematic artistry of this caliber, with bravura work by absolutely everybody involved, doesn’t come along very often.
Cherish this one.
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