In the Heights: The highest high

In the Heights (2021) • View trailer

Five stars. Rated PG-13, for mild profanity and suggestive references

Available via: Movie theaters and HBO Max

By Derrick Bang

Like, wow.

 

The sheer, dazzling exuberance of this film is breathtaking; we’ve rarely (never?) seen this much energy on the big screen.

 

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).

If you were impressed by the initial freeway dance in La La Land — and who wasn’t? — wait until you experience the opening sequence in this stunner. I’ve never seen so many dance extras in a single number. (Literally hundreds, all named in the end credits.)

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.

 

Mary Poppins Returns: Plenty of magic

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) • View trailer 
Four stars. Rated PG, for no particular reason
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.14.18

Even in a Hollywood environment driven by short-term greed, some films have managed to remain revered, thou-shalt-not-remake-or-sequelize classics (although that hasn’t stopped people from thinking about it).

Having magically entered the world painted on the outside of a Royal Doulton china
bowl, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt, center) encourages her companions — from left,
Georgie (Joel Dawson), Anabel (Pixie Davis), Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and
John (Nathanael Saleh) — to join her for what surely will be a remarkable ride.

Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Some Like It Hot, Lawrence of Arabia and The Godfather come to mind. (The latter was OK, because Francis Ford Coppola handled the trilogy himself.)

It’s not merely a function of great cinema; such films also are a product of their time — where we were, as a country and as a people — which further complicates efforts to re-visit them.

Mary Poppins made that list, and deservedly so, for more than half a century … although Disney’s failure to capitalize on their 1964 hit likely had less to do with leaving well enough alone, and more to do with the fact that author P.L. Travers loathed the film, and — since she lived until 1996 — likely blocked any efforts to draw additional water from the well.

But tempus fugit, and a couple of decades further down the line, Disney decided to attempt the impossible — no doubt with fingers crossed and breath held — and thus we have Mary Poppins Returns.

The studio certainly took pains to assure success. Director Rob Marshall, a veteran of opulent stage-to-film translations of Chicago and Into the Woods, is an excellent choice as guiding hand. He shares scripting credit with David Magee (Finding Neverland, Life of Pi and the under-appreciated Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) and John DeLuca. Truth be told, their shared vision hews much closer to the subversive edge present in Travers’ eight books, and which was missing from the 1964 film’s cotton candy tone.

The casting is equally choice. Emily Blunt steps primly, saucily and posture-perfectly into Julie Andrews’ immaculately polished shoes, and this saga’s three children — Anabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson) — are every bit as precociously adorable, and talented, as the original’s Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber.

Most crucially, Broadway phenom Lin-Manuel Miranda is bloomin’ terrific as Jack, the amiably optimistic lamplighter who stands in for Dick Van Dyke’s chimney sweep. The enthusiastic and athletic Miranda steals the show, and that’s no small feat; there’s much to admire in this ambitious and opulent musical fantasy. 

Marshall & Co. deliver a fresh, richly entertaining bit of razzle-dazzle, while honoring — and slyly referencing — the original.