Movie Monday: In The Heights

Welcome to Movie Monday where I will post about new first run movies I've seen over the weekend in the theater or via streaming. Cinema Sunday will continue to focus on older movies.

For the first time in well over a year, the fam ventured forth from the Fortress of Ineptitude to see a movie in a theater. 

That movie was In the Heights. 

You may hear a lot of good things about this film adaption of the stage musical such as this rhapsodic assessment on Rotten Tomatoes,"a joyous celebration of heritage and community fueled by dazzling direction and singalong songs."

It is a very good movie. 

But as I left the environs of the theater, I could only come to one inescapable conclusion:

Lin-Manuel Miranda is evil.   

In the Heights made me feel things, joy, sadness, hope, despair, elation, grief. 

I was ill prepared to feel so much emotion. 

I came out of In the Heights stunned, unsettled by the emotional onslaught.  

In the Heights made feel... things. 

I am not ready to feel such... things. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda is evil. 

Usnavi de la Vega tells children the story of Washington Heights. Usnavi owns a bodega where he employs his cousin Sonny. Usnavi has a chance to escape the bodega and the Heights to live in the tropical paradise of the Dominican Republic.  

Abuela Claudia is the matriarch of the neighborhood who raised Usnavi.  

Kevin Rosario runs the taxi company and whose daughter Nina is returning from Stanford for the summer. Or maybe longer. She's not coping well with the stress of being so far away from the support of her family and friends in Washington Heights.  We also meet Benny who works for Kevin and is in love with Nina.  

And we meet the colorful and brash salon ladies Daniela, Carla, and Cuca. The rent's going up is forcing the salon to move to the Bronx.

Vanessa works at the salon but she longs for a better life uptown as a fashion designer. Usnavi is in love with Vanessa but it's a feeling that the shy Usnavi cannot express beyond giving Vanessa free coffee at his bodega.  

We have a swirl of emotional traffic to contend with. Usnavi and Vanessa looking to get out but in different directions even as fate finally draws them together. 

Nina looking to get back in, she misses the connections she has with this community.

And there are people like Kevin Rosario and Abuela Claudia who have made their stand in Washington Heights, to live their lives there.  

All this swirling drama takes place during a scorching heat wave in New York City which culminates in a blackout where in all the conflicting desires and dreams of our cast come to a head. 

Vanessa and Usnavi fight because Usnavi's being a jerk. It's not intentional or nothing, Usnanvi's actually a very nice guy but has zero experience on being someone's boyfriend.

Kevin and Nina are on the outs. Kevin is prepared to make any sacrifice to guarantee his daughter's education at Stanford including selling the taxi business and Nina is trying to make it clear that she doesn't want to go back to Stanford as it is apparently a racist conclave against Latinos. 

There's an extended dream like musical sequence about Abuela's childhood in Cuba, her journey to New York, and the hardships she endured to be where she is today. 

In the present, Abuela lies in her bed and smiles as she listens to her family. Whatever their troubles, she is content to know they are together and they love each other. 

Then Abuela Claudia dies. 

No, I am NOT crying! You're crying! 

I am NOT feeling... things! NO! 

Damn it!

Lin-Manuel Miranda is evil. 

...

God, I hate this movie. 

Anyway...

Long story made short, the blackout persists for a few more days as the community bonds together in a celebration.  

The lights come back on and decisions are made. 

Nina learns that Sonny cannot go to college as he is undocumented. She resolves to go back to Stanford to find a way to help undocumented immigrant children. 

Usanvi is on his way out the door to the Dominican Republic but finds one last gift from Abuela and finally sorts things out with Vanessa.

The part of Usnavi is portrayed by Anthony Ramos who does such a great job channelling Lin-Manuel Miranda.  It's kind of sad we've reached a point in time when we need a young version of Lin-Manuel Miranda instead of the main man himself. 

Lin himself is in the movie as the Piragüero who sells piraguas, flavored ice cones.  He has a rivalry with a Mr. Softee Truck Driver who is trying to horn in on the Piragüero's territory in Washington Heights.  The Mr. Softee Truck Driver is played by Christopher Jackson who was the first George Washington in Hamilton. 

Speaking of Hamilton, there's a funny bit when Kevin Rosario is on hold and the hold music is a Muzak version of "You'll Be Back" from Hamilton. 

In the Heights is a lot of fun with lots of colorful scenery, energetic music and nuanced performances from everyone in the cast. 

In the Heights is a really good movie. 

But...

In the Heights made feel... things. 

I am not ready to feel such... things. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda is evil. 

God, I hate this movie. 

You should see this movie! It is really, really good.  

But be warned: Lin-Manuel Miranda is evil.

You will feel things, man! FEEL!