In the Heights Review

Who else was waiting for this prideful, powerful, and joyful musical to premiere? Did you get to see it yet? Read below to get my take on what hit and what missed "In the Heights"

MORGAN TELL ME WHAT HIT!!??

EXPANSIVE LATIN IMAGES

When I was in elementary school my fundamental years were in Brooklyn, New York. At that time PS282 was a predominantly Black and Latinx school... to be honest we were really surprised in 3rd grade when we had one blonde white girl join our gifted and talented class! Every class had a mix of mostly Black, Latin, biracial kids of various shades and body types. What "The Heights" caught in the first scene was a diaspora of Latinx appearing families and images that did not Europeanize the Latinx community.

When Usnavi ( Anthony Ramos) appeared on the screen in his storage room sized apartment halfway off the bed in his "wife beater" and the sound of the city outside of his window I knew that the film was going to try to be realistic and give an essence of what it was like. What stood out for me was the "Black" appearing Latinx images of families getting dressed, and going to work blended with the "more European" featured folks all representing their various home countries and representing a clearer image of Washington Heights.

MOST OF THE MUSIC/ RAPPING

If you liked the hit play Hamilton you will understand the flow of the music "In the Heights". It is basically like Hamilton but replaced with the modern day experiences of fictional characters in Washington Heights. What you may not know is that Lin-Manual Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the 2008 Broadway Musical "In the Heights". It was a highlight of the movie when we first see a "cameo" of Lin-Manuel, He is playing Mr.Piraguero who is the Puerto Rican owner of a small piragua stand competing with the owner of the Mister Softee ice-cream truck.

I felt like his first song "Piragua" was just enough! The major songs like "In the Heights", "No Me Diga ( You Don't Say)", "Albanza" "Home All Summer", "Siempre(Always)" and my favorite "Carnaval Del Barrio" felt the most powerful and captured the spirit of the latinx community that I remembered.

MAJOR THEMES OF GENTRIFICATION, DISCRIMINATION, & COUNTRY OF ORIGIN PRIDE

I felt like in the storyline the stars showed many common struggles that happen to thriving poorer urban areas in cities. Gentrification is the process in which a poor area experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people that renovate and rebuild homes and businesses. In this story Kevin Rosario ( Jimmy Smits) plays a business owner who is faced with selling his small business in order to finance his daughters education. His business is subsequently bought out by a wealthier white man who charges high fees deterring the existing patrons. His daughter - in my opinion the breakout star Leslie Grace playing Nina Rosario faces a pat down while at her predominately white university. She shows the struggle of losing your identity and struggling for purpose when you leave your home town behind. Her character also is featured dating a black man (Benny played by Corey Hawkins ) which is also an extremely common interracial pairing that needs more visibility. Overall the movie shares what most communities of color need to heal from our "in-fighting". Remembering our environment is being controlled by corporations and factors larger than ourselves but in that delicate struggle we lift our people out of it with dignity, fun, and our family on our backs.

OKAY THEN...SO WHAT MISSED MORGAN????!!!

MOST BALLADS

Honestly, some of the ballads struck out. Most notably "Breathe", "Piragua Reprise", and "Everything I Know" .They captured some of the historical significance and more somber feelings of loss and longing but these songs happened too often and created unneeded lulls in the story.

MOST MAIN CHARACTERS LOOKED LIKE MODELS AND HAD EUROPEAN FEATURES

Besides Cuca and a few background characters many of the movies cast members had "stick skinny" figures, looked like social media models, and did not have a diverse range of features or abilities. The hardest challenge for me was that the main characters did not embody the essence of the characters personas. This unfortunately was the most apparent in Vanessa's character who is the long-term crush and romantic interest in Usnavi. Vanessa was supposed to be the strong, dominant, independent, gritty, sensual and ambitious. Lin-Manual chose an actress that really missed the image and voice of this type of woman. Some ideas of a woman that would better have played that role to me were: Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar or Cardi B, Haskiri Velazquez, Rebecca Marie Gomez or Becky G, or Jasmine Marie Villegas better known as Jasmine V. I think Vanessa's character would have had a greater impact if she had a more charismatic personality and was less of a trained actor.

NOT MANY SHOCKING MOMENTS

I think that when my sister and I went to watch this movie with our buttered popcorn, bunch-a-crunch, and Nachos were were hyped up to see the twists and powerful moments of this film. There were about 3 surprise moments in this film - the surprise of Lin-Manual Miranda, the death of Abuela Claudia played by Olga Merediz, and the scene where Usnavi and Nina stay in Washington Heights, have a child, and merge their small businesses to empower the community. What fell flat was that there were awesome musical productions surrounding pretty dull storylines. What would have helped in my view would have been less ballads, and shocking, fresh, and inclusive stories.

"In the Heights" is worth seeing though! It is so much more important to open up to some of the realities of being Latinx and living in a neighborhood where you are being pushed out. They gave a platform to many talented singers and Latinx artists that I did not know about. I think that overall they should have a second movie... but with a more inclusive cast, a different style of music, and a more unique storyline!

Thank you for reading!! Much Love to my readers <3 Also like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel where I read poetry! I am Morgan Sankofa on there!!