The High Note
Directed by: Nisha Ganatra
Written by: Flora Greeson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Ice Cube, June Diane Raphael, Bill Pullman, Eddie Izzard, Zoe Chao, Diplo
Drama/Music/Romance - 113 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 27 May 2020
Written by: Flora Greeson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Ice Cube, June Diane Raphael, Bill Pullman, Eddie Izzard, Zoe Chao, Diplo
Drama/Music/Romance - 113 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 27 May 2020
Of course there should be more films centered on strong, independent female voices and propel the points of view of both women of a certain age and women of color. But even though The High Note checks all of those boxes at the same time, that does not mean it’s any good. Even though we never see the girl have encyclopedic music knowledge or a diva truly wrestle with whether to coast or keep pushing in an industry which wants to sideline her, these issues still come off as disappointingly stale and even trite. We’ve seen Maggie before. This is Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada, Melanie Griffith in Working Girl, and Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks Notice. This is even Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades franchise, but with Tracee Ellis Ross as her BDSM master.
According to Flora Greeson’s script, only Maggie (Dakota Johnson, The Peanut Butter Falcon) knows what is right for her superstar boss, Grace Davis (Ross). In real life, Tracee Ellis Ross is Diana Ross’s daughter, and Ross is a fitting archetype for Grace Davis - a former powerhouse force of nature in an industry which eventually moved on. Diana Ross is too old to be a perfect comparison for Grace Davis, so imagine Whitney Houston if she was still alive and what her choices would be in the 2020 music industry. It is more than believable she may have to choose between a Vegas residency ala Celine Dion or to gamble on new material when the industry knows they can reliably sell the hits to fans, but not necessarily new sounds.
According to Flora Greeson’s script, only Maggie (Dakota Johnson, The Peanut Butter Falcon) knows what is right for her superstar boss, Grace Davis (Ross). In real life, Tracee Ellis Ross is Diana Ross’s daughter, and Ross is a fitting archetype for Grace Davis - a former powerhouse force of nature in an industry which eventually moved on. Diana Ross is too old to be a perfect comparison for Grace Davis, so imagine Whitney Houston if she was still alive and what her choices would be in the 2020 music industry. It is more than believable she may have to choose between a Vegas residency ala Celine Dion or to gamble on new material when the industry knows they can reliably sell the hits to fans, but not necessarily new sounds.
The movie poster may show them with equal gravitas, but The High Note is Dakota Johnsons’s film. It is not so much about the fading star, but about the hidden Cinderella on her staff. What makes The High Note feel so tired is the too familiar theme of, “You’re a personal assistant, and that is all you’re ever going to be.” The idea of and effort at pursuing professional development is considered treason - how dare you peek over the wall of your assigned role. Dakota Johnson’s mother, Melanie Griffith, take a bow at the next generation of suffering worker bees stuck on the bottom rung.
Ice Cube (Ride Along) shows up as Grace’s manager and plays a convincing Los Angeles dream squasher. He’s been around too long to see some giddy upstart fill his cash cow’s head with dreams of new studio hits. He wants the easy life in Vegas with late wake-ups, a choreographed show, and 20% of the take for very little effort. Maggie practices her craft behind the board as a music producer with undiscovered talent, David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Waves). David is an obvious songwriter, can croon soft R&B as well as any Usher wannabe, but lacks self-confidence. Perhaps Maggie, struggling against expectations and without complete confidence in herself, can extract the industry’s next star from David.
Kelvin Harrison, Jr., known for gritty roles in Waves and Luce, can legitimately sing. So can Tracee Ellis Ross. She channels her mother’s presence and attitude onto the stage and convinces the audience she’s been doing this for a few decades. Director Nisha Ganatra stuffs the rest of the supporting cast with tropes. Diplo, a famous EDM musician and producer, plays a sleazy producer who makes up nonsense phrases like cross-synth, June Diane Raphael is Davis’s house manager who is clearly going for a Kato Kaelin vibe, and somebody save Bill Pullman here. This national treasure is stuck in a nothing role as Maggie’s radio DJ father.
Ganatra shot this L.A. story with the iconic L.A. scenery, especially the über-recognizable Capitol Records building to get her point across. We’re dealing with the music industry, so here is perhaps the most famous music building in the United States. While Ganatra is ultimately looking to inspire and offer a rom-com with a can do attitude to historically under-served audience segments, Maggie’s precarious juggling act of pleasing her boss, trying to break in to a gender-biased industry, and perhaps finding love in the weeds of studio sessions is comprehensively stock and habitually paint-by-numbers. Instead of the inevitable reveals we all know are coming and the guaranteed moment when Maggie’s high-wire act tumbles to the floor, imagine a more realistic, balanced, and creative texturing which would blast open a canvas of aesthetic ground to experiment with. Cliché characters would have presence, Maggie’s quest would generate genuine empathy, and Grace Davis’s situation would provoke umbrage at an industry shunting her aside. As is, The High Note is the Vegas residency version of the story instead of the taking the chance on new material side of the coin.
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