Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s In The Heights directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Quiara Alegría Hudes opens on June 11 and mark my words — it’s going to be huge. Not only will it pump coins into a struggling box office, but it will give the Latinx community the shine it deserves. And lord knows that the Latinx community has been ignored by Hollywood for so long.
Yesterday, Warner Bros. dropped the first eight minutes from the movie and we see star Anthony Ramos guide us through his neighborhood. The first eight minutes, Chu shows his remarkable skills of staging huge dance numbers and Hudes manages to pack an introduction to the core characters of movie: Corey Hawkin, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco and icon Jimmy Smits.
If you don’t get chills at the end of this number, just leave me alone.
In the Heights is set in the titular Latinx community of New York City’s Washington Heights. When the neighborhood’s charismatic local bodega owner, and the pic’s humble narrator, finally decides to fulfill his dream of going to the island his parents called home, his departure will change his beloved block forever.
Watch the first eight minutes above. Learn the choreo because there will be a test later.
