The High Note (2020)
Directed by Nisha Ganatra
Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis, a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands, but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever.
5 connections found
View:
5 films that influenced The High Note
What critics say influenced The High Note
(A point about workplace sexism also driven home by The Devil Wears Prada and Late Night.)
Los conflictos con su jefa nos recuerdan un poco a The Devil Wears Prada , mientras que el recurso de utilizar el proceso musical como alegoría del romance en puerta es algo gastado que ya hemos visto en ocasiones previas.
The High Note is trying to be a mixture of The Devil Wears Prada and Once, but it doesn’t quite capture the charm of either, as the film lazily hits all the beats of the too-frequently told story of the pressures and sacrifices of becoming a music star.
If it reminds you of "All About Eve" or "The Devil Wears Prada," that's okay because those are good movies for filling time between catastrophes.
Stories of high-maintenance divas and their long-suffering underlings have proved a Teflon comedy-movie staple, whether it’s the Meryl Streep-Anne Hathaway duo in The Devil Wears Prada or Nisha Ganatra ’s last film Late Night , which paired Emma Thompson’s highly strung talk-show host with Mindy Kaling’s bright-eyed incoming writer.
Shift the style-obsessed mean boss from the fashion world of “The Devil Wears Prada” to a style-obsessed mean boss from the music world and you have “The High Note” — except not as funny or insightful.
If it reminds you of "All About Eve" or "The Devil Wears Prada," that's okay because those are good movies for filling time between catastrophes.
The cinematic pairing of a middle-aged female achiever with a younger female assistant and/or protégée has its grand-mama in that juicy 1950 drama about the New York stage, All About Eve .
“All About Eve” without the ferocious, greedy ambition — also fine.
Prickly and exacting, but also appreciative and generous, it’s at odds with the All About Eve treachery and rivalry narrative that is the more usual Hollywood angle on this kind of female dynamic.
Ganatra and her cast manage to pull this off with The High Note, a movie that will remind you of others - 2013's Begin Again comes readily to mind – yet manages to find its own voice, thanks primarily to its sympathetic characters.
Their bond is reminiscent of the affection seen in “Begin Again,” one of 2013’s best films.
At a hip grocery store, Maggie meets David (Kelvin Harrison Jr., from “Waves”), a handsome singer-songwriter with a rockin’ MOR vibe, and the two have a “High Fidelity” music-geek convo that dances on the edge of cringey-ness.
You never get the sense that she lives for music the way someone like Zoe Kravitz’s character does on the reboot of “High Fidelity.”
Advertisement
The idea that as a white woman, Maggie has that extra little something to make black music really sing reminded me of La La Land , when Ryan Gosling’s character saves jazz.