Saw this shit last Sunday. Took Mom for Mother's Day.

Shit is excellent. I'm not too big on musicals, but the songs here are real earworms.

Nice to see a movie about American minorities struggling without it being dour. This film is joyful and hopeful even when shit gets real.

Anyways, I liked this better than Hamilton.

Drops June 11th in theaters and HBO Max.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0CL-ZSuCrQ

Initially as I was watching I was disappointed with a few story changes from the stage musical (which is funny since I haven’t actually seen it, just listened to the Broadway cast soundtrack a TON which tells that entire story, along with watching some cell phone recorded footage on YouTube.) But those changes all paid off huge the way the film version ended, making it way more impactful than the stage show’s ending (which was already pretty impactful.)

A lot of them came at the expense of songs, adding scenes I didn’t feel were necessary. That said, the performances were all uniformly great (except for Beatriz, who was absurdly hammy compared to the cast, but she’s largely background, so that didn’t matter, lol)— it was fucking awesome having leads that can actually sing and dance, a goddamn miracle in today’s “auto tune big stars” world. And the first act of the musical is one of my favorite acts of the last 15ish years, so it was really great seeing that come to life on the screen.

Spoilers below:




Most of the changes I didn’t like seemed to be connected to each other. The original musical is a true ensemble cast where there isn't really a clear lead - you have Usnavi, Vanessa, Benny, and Nina all pretty much on an equal level. Usnavi was the lead on paper, but from a story perspective the Benny and Nina relationship was more prominent than the Usnavi and Vanessa relationship.

In the movie they made Anthony Ramos as Usnavi the CLEAR lead with the whole narration aspect. That meant that Benny’s role got diminished, and the Benny/Nina relationship got simplified so they could beef up the Usnavi/Vanessa relationship. They HAD to cut songs - that original musical soundtrack is long as heck. Benny and Nina had three duets to themselves. So in simplifying that relationship, they took away the conflict of Benny being mad at her about her dad selling the shop (they even switched the argument during Blackout to become Usnavi and Vanessa’s argument). That was a shame because Corey Hawkins KILLED it as Benny.

The change in sequence with Abuela’s death really worked for me - her being with all her people and at peace (Olga was AMAZING) was just heartbreakingly beautiful. Usnavi finding the lotto ticket later was great. And the end of the movie adding Vanessa into the Graffiti Pete reveal? That was amazing.

The reveal that he was still in NYC and on the beach was pretty obvious, but I still liked it. There were some additional that didn’t make sense (why add a third salon lady when those lines could have just been done by Daniella and Carla?) While I was watching I was annoyed by some of the choices in what was cut out given that some things were added that weren’t needed, but after seeing the whole thing and realizing that the cuts were purposeful I definitely understand it.

I saw her in something else and was surprised by how not good she was.

She is one of those tv actresses who found that one perfect role which she should ride to the wheels fall off.


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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

top hammy in the play also. She was a super ditzy/naïve side character so over the top that it's hard to tell how old she was supposed to be - at times she seems like a pre-teen and at other times in her 20's. Different people playing the role in the musical have played up both sides of that dynamic.

I REALLY don't know why they added the Cuca character to the salon when most of her lines were originally already said by Daniella or Carla. Especially given that Daniella and Carla could have used additional character development. I had to hear in an interview that they were a couple - that was a change from the play that could have been a nice added dynamic, but I didn't even pick up on it. (The interview said there's a scene with them waking up in bed but I completely missed that.) If they'd left Cuca out of the film and added a couple lines to make that relationship clear, it would have given Beatriz a bit more to work with.

I like the story and the songs are pretty good even though I’m not really into musicals like that.

My wife and I both noticed that the cast was mad lightskinned for the Heights and both remarked on it. Nevertheless we thought it was great and was just floored by what Lin Manuel accomplished with the film.

I would have to seen the Colorism acknowledged and a discussion about it started while also see the musical get the flowers it deserves.



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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I now know I'm not into Lin Manuel-Miranda.

The narratives Manuel-Miranda tells seem to erase Blackness, the African presence, and histories of African descendants a little too much for me. And he does all of that as some--not all-- of the same people whose histories and presence he's erased celebrate his version of mutli-culturalism, inclusion, and representation that exists without THEM or their voices.

At one point in my life, I didn't know a lot about how Latinos might relate to, resist, or formulate Blackness and Africaness--whatever one wants to call it. It's not as if I'm an expert now, but I know more than I once did.

It's deep to me that someone like me who, at one point, didn't know a lot about Afro-Latinos or Dominicans would think ItH is somehow...a fair representation. I can see myself, in the past, loving ItH for all of the reasons that people praise the movie. That makes me sad and angry because I'm a Black woman, and love learning about and encountering people who are African and African descendants wherever they are in the world.

At some point in time in my life, ItH would have invited me to traffic in the imaginary of uninformed stereotypes and ignorance about who is and who isn't Latino or Dominican. Doing so would mean I'd be unaware of how my own internalized racism and self-hatred helped me connect the dots so that I could enter the world of the ItH imaginary.

I think the color line in Manuel-Miranda's work endorses a mixed, we-are-one, tapestry of creams and shades of browns...that most definitely isn't Black. Manuel-Miranda is always really quick to tell us that *he's Latino* and "he wants to see himself" and people like him in his stories. The way that shakes out seems to wind up celebrating Whiteness and proximity to Whiteness.

These issues keep coming up in his work and people keep bringing it to his attention. And so, his ​apology rings hollow and insincere.

I really wanted to like this film, believe it or not.

It's disappointing that, for some, discussing blatant colorism and erasure is framed as harming a minority group's moment in the spotlight for representation. That's a mind game.