Author Topic: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense  (Read 982 times)

Offline perc2100

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IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« on: June 14, 2021, 12:19:08 PM »
IN THE HEIGHTS feels both progressive AND traditional.  Structurally, as well as choreography and cinematography the film is in line with all of the truly great, classic Hollywood musicals: WEST SIDE STORY; GUYS AND DOLLS; THE KING AND I.  It even feels in line with the 'new musical classics' such as LES MIS, CHICAGO, or THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.  As both a lover for film and musicals, IN THE HEIGHTS feels like a refreshing return to the classic movie musicals: not just a "slightly tweaked for the big screen" adaptation, but a film that expands via film HUGE choreography numbers that weren't possible on a stage.  The music mixes some 'traditional' Broadway music (show tune-esque) with hip-hop and heavy Latin music stylings, which makes the film feel fresh.

The story is simplistic enough, with a neighborhood full of characters pursuing their various dreams. Usnavi (who has an incredibly amusing/charming story for how he got his name), played by Anthony Ramos (of the original Broadway cast of  "Hamilton" as well as GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS and Lady Gaga's BFF in A STAR IS BORN) is the main character who runs a bodega and dreams of returning back to his native country of Dominican Republic to bring back his deceased father's beachside bar; he's an orphan.  Nina (played by singer/songwriter Leslie Grace) is the intelligent young lady home from Stanford, the first member of her family to go to college, who thinks college life may not be her thing but is afraid of letting the whole neighborhood, leas of all her dad (Kevin, played by Jimmy Smits, who owns a local cab stand and his working hard to support Nina through college - UBER proud of his daughter).  Benny (played by Corey Hawkins, of SKULL ISLAND and BLACKKKLANSMAN) manages Kevin's cab stand & has a HARD crush on Nina and dreams of opening his own business.  Should be noted that Benny is the only major character who doesn't speak Spanish.  Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) is Usnavi's love interest; she works at a salon and lives with her alcoholic mom; she dreams of moving out of the neighborhood to the big city but can't afford it.  And of course there's Usnavi's Abuela: the 'Grandma' figure that's looked after him all his life who's lived a hard life as an immigrate having to assimilate to American culture.

The various characters' stories are told over the span of a couple of days during a summer heat wave with rolling brown outs.  There's the typical relationship drama, and other story aspects that are fairly typical for these types of movies, as well as the big dramatic moments, relationship squabbles that occur in Act 2 so they can be resolved in Act 3, etc.  The stories are mildly compelling on their own, but the real showcase of this film is the awesome choreography, staging, visual look, etc.  If you've seen the trailers, you've already seen glimpses at some of the big production numbers: "96,000" has the cast imagining what they'd do if they won the lotto with some awesome choreography at the local community pool is a big highlight.  “Paciencia y Fe” uses some inventive multi-colored lighting, as well as radical location shifts as Abuela tells her story of coming from Cuba to make her life in NYC.  "When The Sun Goes Down" has some really cool, surreal stuff where Nina and Benny climb outside of their apartment, defy gravity by dancing on the side of the walls, etc.  Really cool stuff; some of the numbers I'm kind of really curious to see how they were performed on the stage originally!

The film is full of some nice visual flourishes, such as some small animation figures drawn as characters are singing and talking about action, pantomiming what they're talking about, and animation 'filling in the blanks' so-to-speak.  There is also a lot of camera movement with the shooting style that often keeps the pace fast.  Sometimes the cinematography took me out of the moment, and felt a little "show offy," so to speak, but there is quite a bit of great work.

IN THE HEIGHTS is really a top-notch musical: easily the best Hollywood musical produced in decades.  For me, this musical feels exactly what I thought it would be: early Lin-Manuel Miranda musical that is incredibly well done that hints at his future greatness.  This in no way tops "Hamilton" on any level (IMO, at least), but has a nice story, characters you would easily want to spend time with for the most part, some good music, and some awe-inspiring choreography.  Miranda (who starred as Usnavi in the original Broadway production) has a small role as an iced drink salesman on a bike, who competes with the local ice cream truck (played by "Hamilton's" George Washington as well as the original "In the Heights" Broadway Benny).  I'm incredibly excited at the thought that between this film and Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY opening in December that 2021 will (likely) see two incredibly well-done musicals; I don't know if this will rekindle the musical trend (I don't think IN THE HEIGHTS made a lot of money this weekend, and honestly while the film is clearly a summer movie it feels like had it been delayed to late fall, when COVID will likely have the country in a MUCH better situation than now and thus may have achieved a better opening weekend Box Office haul), but I'm hyped that we're getting some legit great musicals this year!

IN THE HEIGHTS is streaming now on HBO Max and in theaters

Offline lliving

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2021, 07:46:52 PM »
Haven’t seen it yet. Debating seeing it in theatre vs at home


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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
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Offline perc2100

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2021, 09:09:34 PM »
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Haven’t seen it yet. Debating seeing it in theatre vs at home


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Yeah this may be THE film to get me back in theaters.  I'm weak and couldn't wait longer than 24ish hours to watch it at home on my TV, but this is a movie that I think I need to see on the big screen.
That being said, because of the nature of Lin-Manuel Miranda's composing, I appreciated watching the movie at home w/closed captioning on (I have hearing problems so I watch all TV w/cc on; it's not a huge problem when I wear my hearing aids but at night I'd rather be lazy and read the cc when necessary rather than wear them beyond 12 hours a day).  Like "Hamilton," some of the songs feature lyrics delivered via hip hop that come at ya pretty dang fast (though, at least on a first listen/watch, not as many songs in IN THE HEIGHTS are hip hop as compared)

Offline TardisMom

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2021, 08:15:09 AM »
Definitely see this one in a theater!!  It was FANTASTIC and didn't feel like 2.5 hours.  My NYC annual trip group "rented" a theatre and saw it together on Friday in preparation for our trip this December (can't wait to see Dear Evan Hansen in movie theaters later in the year as well!).  Highly recommend!

Offline perc2100

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2021, 08:19:17 AM »
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Definitely see this one in a theater!!  It was FANTASTIC and didn't feel like 2.5 hours.  My NYC annual trip group "rented" a theatre and saw it together on Friday in preparation for our trip this December (can't wait to see Dear Evan Hansen in movie theaters later in the year as well!).  Highly recommend!
That's right, I forgot about that musical: coming out in late September!  That's potentially 3 big Hollywood musical films this year!

Offline semigeekgirl

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2021, 09:03:32 AM »
We made it our return-to-the-theatre movie last night, and it was so good! I'd definitely recommend seeing it on the big screen - the musical numbers and dancing are really incredible and so much fun.

Offline clarrkkent

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IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2021, 03:00:24 PM »
 I saw it over the weekend. We enjoyed it. I have one bone to pick though.

There was no follow up for Sonny and Nina. Given that 7-9 years seemed to have passed, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to get an update on where they ended up, especially considering Sonny was the motivation for Nina to go back.


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« Last Edit: November 07, 2022, 03:56:48 PM by clarrkkent »
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Offline perc2100

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2021, 09:20:59 AM »
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My wife and I saw it over the weekend. We enjoyed it. I have one bone to pick though.

There was no follow up for Sonny and Nina. Given that 7-9 years seemed to have passed, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to get an update on where they ended up, especially considering Sonny was the motivation for Nina to go back.


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Good point: there should've probably have been time, though the lawyer speaking to him about the legal process implied it might've taken 5 years.  As pat as the ending felt wrapping up plot points, I wonder if would've maybe felt _too pat_ if he popped into the bodega with his green card and/or Nina popping in to hype her graduation.  Maybe when they were producing the film, halfway through the Trump Administration, they didn't want to push that 'political' point too much and potentially alienate folks.

IDK; but considering they even wrapped up the "ice cream truck guy vs iced drink guy" plot point, I agree that it feels slightly odd to maybe not resolve Sonny & Nina.

Offline semigeekgirl

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2021, 10:54:07 AM »
Maybe Nina. But I'm not sure how they would have handled Sonny, given that it would have been difficult to age that actor up by 7-10 years and also awkward to recast him for just one scene/number. Also, this is a big Hollywood musical... I feel like musicals in general have quite "pat" endings. It's sort of a feature of the genre. While I appreciate that this one deals with a lot of real-world issues, it's still basically a big candy-colored fantasy, and it makes sense to end the way that it does. (Especially if Nina and Sonny aren't actually "in the Heights" physically anymore in their futures.)

Offline perc2100

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Re: IN THE HEIGHTS - musical in the classic, Hollywood sense
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2021, 03:52:41 PM »
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Maybe Nina. But I'm not sure how they would have handled Sonny, given that it would have been difficult to age that actor up by 7-10 years and also awkward to recast him for just one scene/number. Also, this is a big Hollywood musical... I feel like musicals in general have quite "pat" endings. It's sort of a feature of the genre. While I appreciate that this one deals with a lot of real-world issues, it's still basically a big candy-colored fantasy, and it makes sense to end the way that it does. (Especially if Nina and Sonny aren't actually "in the Heights" physically anymore in their futures.)
Absolutely, and I didn't see either the ending nor the non-resolution of Nina & Sony as a negative.  Having seen "Hamilton" the musical production a few times in San Diego and several times on Disney+, it was fun for me to see the progression of Lin-Manuel Miranda as a writer (both musically and narratively).  "In The Heights" was a musical he originally wrote as a college project and expanded on later, and it absolutely feels like someone with incredible talent taking their first go at a musical (I say this having ONLY seen the film and not the stage production so I could be a bit wrong in my assertion).  I know plays & musicals often have only 2 options for resolutions: the pat/tidy happy endings, or the sad endings: Miranda's two musicals feature one of each (in a sense, as "Hamilton" ends both with the title character dying in a duel due to his own folly after his son was killed + star character Burr spiraling to ruin; of course the musical features somewhat of a 'postscript' after Hamilton's death that talks about all the good Elizabeth did so maybe calling "Hamilton's" resolution sad is a matter of one's point of view).  I was a bit amused watching HEIGHTS and realizing near the beginning of Act 3 (film-wise; mid-Act 2 musical-wise :P ) that this was totally going to resolve in a nice and neat, tidy way.  Like many Broadway stories do (
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).

I wasn't bothered by the Nina/Sony thing either to be honest: I hadn't really thought too much about it until clarkkent brought it up.  Sometimes a film/musical story narrative is wonderfully twisty and unexpected, but more often than not it's fairly predictable: story points are brought up for little other reason than to further the overall plot forward, and don't also resolve (or need resolving).