In The Heights

Or: Once on this Island

After more than a year without the movies, ones first trip back to the theater ought to be an exemplary specimen of its art. I choose in the Heights, I was not in the least disappointed.

Based on the play Lin Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes (and adapted beautifully for the screen by the latter), we are treated to a the dreams and struggles of a black of Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Struggling against the pincers of economic inequality and pushed to the wall by gentrification, the Black and Lantinx community continue to “assert their dignity in small ways,” under the eye of neighborhood matriarch “Abuela” Claudia (Olga Merediz) and fast rhyming but socially stunted corner store operator Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos), who dreams of moving back to the Dominican Republic.

The tears in my eyes that kept percolating throughout the film, might be attributed to the lost year and untold devastation to so many, but I honestly think it’s just that sweet and heartfelt. While some character arcs have burrs that I am surprised Hudes didn’t file off, a person is allowed rtf squeal with delight and whisper, “Ah they’ve a lot to work on but I’m so happy!”

The musical numbers soar (particularly the crowd scenes of 96,000 or the opening number) and director Jon M. Chu uses the camera in a heavy handed storytelling tricks (hugging the camera to the actors for eminently intimate closeups, say or often putting Usnavi behind glass to show his spiritual reticence) that non the less prove just the right pressure to guide our attention through a riot of image and song.

Principally we are treated to stories of joy and dignity, the connections that flower when good neighborliness is the soil where love, friendship, and purpose can grow, an assertion that their stories matter. It’s a full banquet that never leaves you stuffed. Of course it doesn’t take itself too seriously, there are plenty of wry references to Miranda’s Hamilton, and the songsmith himself appears as Piragua Guy (a perfect ornament of a character), locked in a street level battle of capitalism with the Mr. Softee Driver (Chris Jackson).

Special mention goes to Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV) Usnavi’s young cousin, for a mix of vulnerable defiance and righteous cockiness and the partnership between Daniella (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and Carla (Stephanie Beatriz) two salonists, the first for magnetism and a voice of shining bronze, the latter for magnetism and being(just slightly, as it should be) the most alive actor in the ensemble. Merediz also brings a beautiful beautiful voice in the fantasia “Paciencia Y Fe.” I wish she had been given more to sing.

If the tradition of movie musicals is to make us forget our troubles and sweep us away to a world where the heart is so great and articulate you can’t help but sing, In the Heights is a masterpiece.