In the Heights

In the Heights (2021) takes place in Washington Heights in New York during a heatwave. Usnavi runs a bodega and plans to go back to the Dominican Republic. Everyone in the neighbourhood has a dream; some want to leave and some want to stay. Then the power goes out. The source is Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical, which won a Tony in 2008. He wrote it long before Hamilton and has a small role in the film. Jon M. Chu directed. Anthony Ramos plays Usnavi. Its most ambitious sequence is the number 96,000, shot over two days at Highbridge Pool with 500 extras and synchronised swimming choreography. It drew serious criticism on release. The absence of dark skinned Afro-Latino performers in leading roles was read as failing to reflect the actual population of Washington Heights. Miranda issued a public statement accepting the criticism, saying there was a great deal of Afro-Latinidad in the film but that the objection was specifically about dark skinned Afro-Latinos in leading roles, and undertaking to do better. Anthony Ramos also accepted it, saying there was no debate about it. Commercially it went badly. Against a 55 million dollar budget it took 45.2 million, and would have needed around 200 million to break even. The reasons cited included the same day HBO Max release, a quarter of American cinemas still being closed, and a 143 minute running time reducing the number of daily screenings. It runs 143 minutes. Good for: musicals, choreography, and neighbourhood portraits. Less good for: 143 minutes with a thin plot, and the narrative stops between numbers. The casting argument undercuts the film's own claim to represent the place. The undocumented immigration subplot begins and is never developed.