By Natalie Tran
Writer’s note: This article may contain spoilers.
Lights up on Washington Heights! Brought to you by the creator of the Tony-winning “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the director of 2018 hit “Crazy Rich Asians,” Jon Chu, “In the Heights” made its groundbreaking debut last Friday in theaters and on HBO Max. It came and most certainly did not disappoint, fulfilling all of its promises to pay homage to the Latino community.
The film opens with a man named Usnavi narrating a story to a group of children on the sun-kissed shores of the Dominican Republic. They are seated on a patio of a bar called El Sueñito, or Little Dream, hinting at a spoiler. This “little dream” would later become one of the overarching themes of the film.
The scenery soon shifts from the tropical El Sueñito to the bustling neighborhood of Washington Heights, New York City where Usnavi works in a bodega selling café con leche, soda pops and a whole lot of lottery tickets.
A sense of communal camaraderie paired with the vivacious music and choreography all contributes to the essence of Washington Heights—it’s a neighborhood full of love, friendship and family. Sort of an everyone-knows-everyone type story.
We are then introduced to more characters; not characters who will come and go, but those who will leave a permanent mark in your head, even after the film comes to an end.
Nina, who is Usnavi’s childhood friend, returns to Washington Heights bringing turmoil as she decides to drop out of college. Her father Kevin becomes furious with her as he sold half of his car service to cover her tuition. We also meet Vanessa, Usnavi’s love interest. As an aspiring fashion designer who dumpster-dives for fabric scraps, her dreams seem unreachable as she struggles to make it out of town.
There are plenty of other characters, but I think it’s best to let you explore their stories on your own. Bringing all of these characters together or, uniting the whole neighborhood, if you will, is Abuela Claudia. A tough as nails woman with much love in her heart, Abuela Claudia seems to have adopted everyone as her own children.
The beginning of the film also featured the subtitle “THREE DAYS UNTIL BLACKOUT,” which brings much of the drama to the plot. Whether or not the singing and dancing will stop once the blackout hits will be left to your viewing.
Review
To say I enjoyed “In the Heights” would be an understatement. I loved it. I loved every aspect of it. Chu’s beautiful direction coupled with Miranda’s genius playwright produced an unforgettable movie. The jubilant music, the stunning choreography and the celebration of culture and tradition, made this film all the more memorable for me.
I loved its overarching theme of having a sueñito and the hardships it takes to achieve them. The clashes of fantasy and reality are seen with Usnavi’s wish of returning to his father’s homeland and Nina’s parallel dream of returning to Washington Heights, showing us that everyone has a small dream and that it’s sometimes difficult to achieve it.
I loved how this film took the time to highlight more mature themes instead of shying away from them. In contrast to its vibrant and joyous appearance, “In the Heights” also touches on topics such as racial profiling, undocumented immigration and wealth disparity.
And so, here are my concluding thoughts: if you haven’t streamed “In the Heights,” make that your number one priority. It will leave you singing at the top of your lungs and maybe even dancing in your living room.
