The High Note

A film set in the music business. Maggie is the assistant to a well-known singer. Her job is keeping the schedule, collecting the laundry and answering the phone; what she actually wants to do is produce records. Grace Davis has been performing for years. Her voice is still strong; but the industry does not expect new material from her, it wants her to sing the old songs again. Her manager is after a long residency in Las Vegas. Maggie secretly remixes a live recording. When it comes out it brings both her chance and her problem. The second line opens when she meets a musician. David plays on the street and in small venues; Maggie offers to produce him and for the first time does her own work. What the narrative is interested in is not fame but age and sex: the film takes as its direct subject how a woman singer is positioned in the industry after a certain age. The tone is kept light; the narrative does not enlarge its conflicts and the resolutions come easily. Dakota Johnson plays Maggie and Tracee Ellis Ross plays Grace, singing the songs herself. Ice Cube and Bill Pullman are in the cast. Nisha Ganatra directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes stories about the music industry and light romantic comedy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting surprise; the final turn is predictable and the film takes no risk anywhere.