Movie #2 of 2021:
In the Heights (2021)
A fun but perhaps overly-long adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical about the Latinx neighborhood of Washington Heights in NYC. Like the stageplay, it’s the story of people who are scraping by just above poverty and how they must weigh the idea of leaving for opportunities elsewhere against the loss of community that would ensue. The movie is further packed with colorful visual details and gains a lot of impact for being actually filmed on location where it’s set, with sound design that incorporates aspects of that environment into the music in neat ways.
I do miss a few of the songs that are absent, however, and I’m wondering if the 2.5-hour runtime could have been tightened up at all (either to make room for them or simply to improve the overall pacing). The timeline is a little confusing too, especially with the rearrangement of the remaining tracks and the bizarre new flash-forward framing device. And there are some inherited weaknesses from the original script — the self-insert protagonist is a bit of a jerk to his romantic interest, for instance, and it’s not clear what he sees in her beyond looks — as well as casting that’s been called out for colorism, presenting a predominantly light-skinned group of characters in contrast to the actual demographics of the titular barrio.
I don’t want to detract from the better qualities of the film, which is clearly a labor of love to the local heritage and culture of the area. As with the Broadway soundtrack, the tunes are catchy and the lyrics exhibit clever rhyming built in part on distinctive code-switching not found in many such productions. I’d recommend watching it if you enjoy showtunes and aren’t familiar with the play. But this particular version is unlikely to go down as a favorite.
[Content warning for racial profiling and threat of deportation.]
★★★☆☆
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