KYMM'S 365 DAY MOVIE CHALLENGE #16: IN THE HEIGHTS (2021, Jon Chu, USA)

“We had to assert our dignity in small ways. That’s why these napkins are beautiful. That’s why my mother’s gloves were beautiful. Little details that tell the world we are not invisible.”

I have been waiting for this movie for so long, and I had no intention of watching it on HBO Max, movies are back in the theatres, and that’s where I’m seeing them! So off to the AMC 16 we went.

Could it live up to the hype? Could it be as good as the trailers, one of which was the entire song, 96,000? Does it need to be 2h 23m long, when I have stated for the record that movies over two hours are an abomination before God and man (except for in certain sweeping epic cases)? It did! It was!

It could have been a little shorter without really missing much, I left to go to the bathroom during the song Carnaval del Barrio, because it clearly wasn’t going to be advancing the plot, but do you want be the one to tell Daphne Rubin-Vega that her big number is cut for time? Because I don’t want to. But it could have managed to be shorter.

Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) owns a bodega in Washington Heights (In the, etc, of the title), but he dreams of moving back to the Dominican Republic, where he came from as a child with his late parents. He loves Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), from afar, who dreams of becoming a fashion designer. His friend Benny (Corey Hawkins) dreams of being a businessman and of his ex-girlfriend, Nina (Leslie Grace), who just came back from Stanford having had a very difficult year being a person of color at a fancy university, far away from her support system, her dreams somewhat crushed. Her father, Kevin (Jimmy Smits) dreams of Nina’s success, and is willing to give up everything so that she could have a better life than he has.

Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz), who is the adopted grandmother and matriarch of the entire neighbourhood, dreams of the past, when she came with her mother from Cuba. Daniela (the great Daphne Rubin-Vega from Rent) is moving her hair salon to the Bronx and dreams of being a big success. Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV), Usnavi’s young cousin, is a real Dreamer, being undocumented.

The movie had to come out in the summer, as it takes place in the summer, a hot, steamy New York summer, before, during, and after a blackout.

The music is spectacular, to nobody’s surprise, as it is by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and won the Tony for Best Musical and Best Score in 2008. The stand-out songs are the previously mentioned 96,000 and the title song, but there isn’t a dud in the bunch.

Anthony Ramos is such a star, it is hard to look away from him, though when you do, it’s not as though the other actors are lesser! It’s just star-making performance after star-making performance, I started to type names, but realized I was only re-stating all the names above. I would like to mention Olga Merediz in particular, though, as she played Abuela Claudia in the Broadway production for the entire run and was only 49 when she originated the role (!!). So that is one really lived-in performance, and she is the backbone of the movie just as she is the backbone of the neighbourhood.I also must point out for special notice the choreography by Christopher Scott, which is extraordinary. He was a choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance, and his gift for telling stories with movement is just perfection in the film.

I also loved the dance ensemble, and one thing that I really love about the dance ensemble, is that they don’t all look like dancers. I’d say that 90% of the dancers would be typed out of any Broadway dance call, too fat, too old, too unpretty, too untraditional-looking. But they can all dance, with joy, with abandon, and with skill. You’re not looking at the movie going, “Gosh, apparently everyone in Washington Heights is a hard-bodied jazz dancer with model looks!” Instead you say, “This block is full of people who can MOVE!” Children, old people, everyone, it’s all movement and music.

And in a beautiful little Easter Egg for the fans, there is Lin-Manuel Miranda himself, as the Piragua guy, selling shaved ice with syrup on the street, his great rival being the Mister Softee guy, played by Christopher Jackson, the original Benny from the Broadway cast (and Washington in Hamilton too, of course). There is a nice little scene/song with them, and another, post credits, which is a great button on the movie. Boy, do I miss getting a cherry ice on a hot day in NY, walking dogs on the Upper West Side.

See it on HBO Max if you must, but see it in the theatre if you can. Just see it, it is such a treat.

Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog