In The Heights
This film was interesting to me because it stuck with me and kind of challenged me with how much I thought about it after watching it, on a personal level though. A theme that's brought up throughout the story is the idea of how everyone has a story and everyone has ambitions they're working towards. This works as an interesting exploration of the main character complex in that it is stated a lot but still has it's main characters, especially the main of the mains, Usnavi. This kind of fit into my personal life as I found some shadow work I've seen within myself is figuring out my pet peeve of seeing other people do things that at least vibe like their main character syndrome coming out but then I question how much I exude this myself.
I feel I don't but at the same time in so much of my life, I feel that maybe I have as I know I've had more ambitions that I never did enough to meet as if to assume that I would just be found and propped up for no good reason other than the fact of my existence. Of course over time I've come to terms with this subconscious failure of living and have struggled with finding my place and feeling I'm doing all I'm meant to do ever since. Only recently I feel I am on the right path but still struggles come up that make me question that but I am reminded of this train of thought from this movie because of how Usnavi finds meaning from others whose lives he has touched and how his ambitions are put into question once he sees the impact he has on the lives of others. And to an extent I feel this too.
Now to be honest while watching this musical, I felt it was mid through the first half but picked up with the blackout and felt more impactful with everyone coming to terms with Usnavi leaving but at time of watching it, it felt like the ending was cheapened with him staying and made the story kind of feel pointless, granted it was to make the point of finding and making current times be the good old days, it still felt like the experience was cheapened a little but the motivation still made sense though. Of course, as mentioned, after thinking about how the story played out and thinking more deeply in relation to my life, it didn't feel cheap anymore. It made sense to me. And now I enjoy it more and would like to watch this again sometime to see how this new perspective changes the way I feel while watching the movie.
Other aspects of filming were serviceable but nothing special, except the shot with the people in the street dancing in the reflection of the mirror as we see Usnavi singing behind it. 96,000 was my favorite song from my first watch and I’d say I liked the beats in the hip hop in this one more than in Hamilton but Hamilton definitely had the more compelling story but again maybe that thought would change with another viewing.