The film revolves around Usnavi (Anthony Ramos – Hamilton, A Star is Born), a New York bodega owner, who saves every penny he earns with a dream of owning a beach-front bar in the Dominican Republic. A framing device shows Usnavi, presumably on the beach he dreams of, telling his story to an enraptured audience of children.
The film is set in the Washington Heights district of Manhattan, a vibrant hub of Latin American communities, not the former United States Armed Forces housing complex in Tokyo (ooooh someone’s been to Japan…). In The Heights is a movie-musical version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit from 2008. Miranda’s lyrics and story-telling seemingly came a very long way in the seven years between this musical and Hamilton’s premiere in January 2015.
Perhaps I came in with unrealistically high expectations, thinking that everything Miranda touches will turn to gold. I have seen Hamilton twice in London’s West End, numerous times on Disney Plus and a number of songs from the musical appear on my Spotify ‘most listened to’ every year. I won’t be in a rush to watch or re-listen to anything from this film.
There are a number of Easter Eggs for Hamilton fans including Christopher Jackson’s (George Washington) brief appearance as Mister Softee and the more notable King George III’s “You’ll be back” instrumental being used as on-hold music, as a character looks to pay off his daughter’s Stanford tuition fees – also a commentary on her precarious position at the University and potential return to the Heights instead.
I mean I have just watched the film so I should probably know what the main storylines are – I think they are two rather weak love stories and a search for the winning lottery ticket holder, of a ticket bought at Usnavi’s bodega – and the dreams that come along with it. Realistically, it fails from a social commentary perspective and just about has a storyline. I like musicals, I’m a fan of Miranda – but this was just a bit rubbish. One couple left the cinema after about 90 minutes of the 143 and I really couldn’t blame them. The storylines it does have could hardly be any more telegraphed and the limited messaging can be a little too on-the-nose – a power cut gives the film the opportunity to declare that its characters are not powerless.
Corey Hawkins, who played Dr Dre in Straight Outta Compton was very good as Benny, but probably only had about 2.5 songs in total. I won’t bore you with details of the love interests as nothing really happens there – it’s incredibly sanitised. I can only imagine it worked better on stage.
Miranda appears in the film on numerous occasions. The first time I thought, yeah fair enough, good to get your Stan Lee or Alfred Hitchcock-style cameo in early. Then we see him about five more times including a full song – Piragua (as Piragüero, a man who sells pyramid-shaped frozen ice desserts) – I thought it was incredibly self-indulgent and cringey. But maybe it is easier to watch if you don’t know who it is playing the character. DC won’t be in a hurry to make a Piraguaman spin-off that’s for sure.
For regular readers of the blog you might have noticed a slight selection bias creeping in – I watch films I think I will like, review them and usually recommend watching them – well, I’ve reviewed this one.
Clingfilm – That’s a wrap!
ClingFilm 