Can 'In The Heights' Change The Hollywood Landscape?

Speaker 1: 00:00 In the Heights opened last week, it serves up a rare commodity, a big budget Hollywood musical created by a Puerto Rican American directed by an Asian-American and featuring a racially diverse cast, KPBS arts reporter, Beth Mondo explores what the wide release of a film like this can mean for the Latino and Latin X communities. Speaker 2: 00:23 Callixtus Chinchilla runs the New York Latino film festival and has been following the evolution of in the Heights. Since it began percolating in the mind of Lin Manuel Miranda, more than a decade ago, Chinchilla sees it as a love letter to his former neighborhood. Speaker 3: 00:38 Let me just assess without block. The Speaker 4: 00:39 Unfortunate thing is that, you know, the heist is changing. You know, the gentrification is real. You know, a lot of us can't afford to be there anymore. It's a different neighborhood. So even that movie becomes a time capsule of you will Speaker 3: 00:51 Say, so it doesn't disappear Speaker 2: 00:55 In the Heights tells a particular story about one community, but Latino playwright, Herbert sequenza says, that's not how Hollywood sees it. It's put us Speaker 5: 01:03 All in this warm modular group. And it's, it's just very unfortunate, Speaker 2: 01:08 Unfortunate, and problematic says Ethan Von Tilo founder of the San Diego Latino film festival. The problem Speaker 5: 01:14 Is we put too much pressure on these movies because it's the one film of the whole year. This has happened many times. I've seen this over the years, right? All this pressure is put on this one film, and if it's not a success, then they say, okay, well, that's why their audiences don't want to see their movies. Speaker 2: 01:29 The ones that says the scarcity of these films is the issue because Speaker 5: 01:33 We want them to represent all of our feelings, all of our history, all of our, uh, nuances. And that's just impossible. It's just impossible. Uh, we have tons of stories, but they're just not represented Speaker 2: 01:47 Both sequenza and Von Tilo have grown jaded about Hollywood telling their stories. Speaker 5: 01:52 I heard a lot of people celebrating, oh my gosh, in the Heights, it's going to be a big change. And we're going to see more Latinos in front of the screen and behind the screen. But you know, we, unfortunately I've heard that before. We've seen that a few times with other films, films like Speaker 2: 02:04 Zoot suit, which challenged stereotypes 40 years ago. Speaker 5: 02:12 It's always important to remember those who have come before us and films like Zoot suit paved the way for someone like me to even make what he's currently made into Hollywood to even distributed what's being made, but suits Speaker 2: 02:25 Suit. It was politically provocative in a way that in the Heights is. Speaker 5: 02:29 And so I always am really sad about films that try to push the boundaries a little bit and promote social justice issues and promote educating the community. Uh, I would say in the Heights is more, a little bit about, you know, a fantasy once upon a time Speaker 3: 02:45 Faraway land called Washington Heights, Washington Speaker 2: 02:50 Heights of the film is about as realistic as the New York of west side story, which celebrates its 60th anniversary. This year, sequenza sees a similarity in the way the two films avoid politics. They Speaker 5: 03:02 Really don't get deep. You know, it's really about the dancing, right? The dancing and the love stories that really are carrying these films. They don't get deeper than that Speaker 2: 03:11 For a young Latino filmmaker, like Luis Martinez of 2:00 AM burrito productions, the film was a mixed bag. Speaker 6: 03:18 I would have liked to seen a Latin X director have the reins of this, but it made me feel really good to see it on the screen and made me feel really good that the studio put its money behind the project like that Speaker 2: 03:29 Heights, which opened in theaters and streaming on HBO, max underperformed at the box office in Hollywood's eyes. But Martinez says that's an easy story to pitch an editor Speaker 6: 03:40 In the Heights. Underperforms, what does this spell for Latin X audiences moving forward? But I think the people that are going to make the next project, they're going to get the real streaming numbers from HBO. You know, when you have access of dual releases online, every, you know, HBO, max password out there is getting used by three or four different Latino families. That's close to 80 people that could have theoretically watched the movie during the weekend. No matter how Speaker 2: 04:04 The film performed Fantino says the Latino community is excited about Speaker 5: 04:08 It. Just kind of seen how already families are already reacting via social media. Just like the sense of pride and seeing one cell phone on the big screen sequenza agrees. But I think people are just reacting emotionally because we just don't see ourselves. We just don't see ourselves on film. Speaker 2: 04:29 Tina suggests celebrating the film while still taking time to criticize it were necessary. Speaker 6: 04:34 I think that as long as we have that conversation while still supporting it, so that more artists like myself and other artists that are out there creating content and telling stories and Alejandra's have the chance to make more films is, is, is what I would like to see come out of this. But sequenza Speaker 2: 04:48 Feels that old cynicism creeping in because he doesn't see in the Heights opening any doors. Speaker 5: 04:54 There's not a lot of follow-up. I don't know of any big Latino projects coming out that are going to like follow it up next year, when Von Tilo Speaker 2: 05:02 Started the San Diego Latino film festival almost three decades ago, a film like in the Heights was just a dream back then he was pushing Hollywood to simply make Latin stories and not whitewash Latino characters like west side story day. I think we're Speaker 5: 05:17 At a point now that we need to have, you know, Latinos portraying Latinos on screen. And that obviously that musical band movie didn't, uh, from a lots of the roles. And so in the highest takes us to the next level. However, we're still not there, right? I mean, we still don't have the Latino director directing the film. Speaker 2: 05:35 Well, a defense, the choice of Jon M Chu as director, Speaker 4: 05:38 You know, being Asian is not, you know, it's not a majority Islander, Speaker 2: 05:41 Sequenza sees it as a labor issue. Speaker 5: 05:43 Whenever I see Latinos on film, it's really a labor issue because you're not going to get the second job if you're not, if you didn't get the first job Martinez Speaker 2: 05:52 Says that perhaps a Latin X director would have been more sensitive to the diversity, the Latino community than a California raised Asian American like Chu. And Speaker 6: 06:02 I think maybe that was why there's so much of this backlash about the casting. Um, and about specifically not enough Afro Latinos displayed in the film, other than dancing in the background, we have to have the internal conversation about, you know, Latino, Latino racism, colorism, colonialism, all these things that come up that, that become important. Martinez Speaker 2: 06:24 Points out that Latinos make up a quarter of the movie going audience and Hollywood needs to reflect that on screen. That's why he says it's important to support in the Heights. Even if it's not perfect, Speaker 6: 06:35 We can be celebrating the fact that this is happening. We can also kind of center ourselves and say, every movie is not going to be able to be everything for every person. So in a way, we're privileged to start having those conversations on Speaker 2: 06:49 Says one film can't represent the entire community. Speaker 5: 06:53 It's important that in the Heights of speed, the first of many new films, Speaker 2: 06:58 Chinchilla, or just people to not just support the film, but to see it in a theater and not streaming on HBO. Max, can we make a little noise? Speaker 4: 07:10 No. The way it's shot in anamorphic it to hear it in Adobe theater to be out, we've come too far as a people period in overcoming this pandemic to come out, go to a theater, celebrated, celebrate the culture, celebrate my life, see this film the way it ought to BC. This doesn't happen often. It doesn't happen often at all Speaker 3: 07:35 To details to tell the world Speaker 5: 07:38 That is a theme that we got to really live up to. Again, Herbert sequenza. We have to have more movies with specific details that really show us as human beings as three-dimensional characters and not just these kind of cartoonish dancers. I really want to see something a little more substansive than this, you know, Speaker 2: 08:00 In the Heights takes us a long way from west side story, but there's still a long way to go Speaker 1: 08:06 In. The Heights is currently in cinemas and available streaming on HBO, max.