THE HIGH NOTE
***
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Screenwriter: Flora Greeson
Principal cast:
Dakota Johnson
Tracee Ellis Ross
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Bill Pullman
Ice Cube
Eddie Izzard
Country: USA/UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 113 mins.
Australian release date: 24 September 2020.
Set in the tough milieu of LA’s professional music scene, The High Note is Nisha Ganatra’s kind-of follow-up to last year’s Late Night, at least thematically. Ganatra’s main medium is television, with only occasional forays into movies for the big screen, but with the relative success of her Emma Thompson/Mindy Kaling starrer in 2019 she’s back in the cinema once again. Like her last film, The High Note also deals with the relationship between two women who ultimately care for one another, even though at times their bond is put to the test. In this case, it involves a superstar diva and her faithful assistant, caught in the intricacies of a music business dominated by men, where it’s hard for a woman to get a break.
Grace Davies (Tracee Ellis Ross who, incidentally, is the daughter of megastar Diana Ross) is an extremely popular singer who has reached the pinnacle of her career. She tours regularly but her songs are all from her back catalogue and she hasn’t recorded any new material in 10 years. Her agent, Jack Robertson (Ice Cube), wants to set Grace up with a residency gig in Vegas, where she can perform her greatest hits without the rigorous lifestyle that accompanies touring. They’ve been in a professional relationship for years and they’re not getting any younger, but they still need to prop up their lavish lifestyles - Grace even has her own private jet! Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) is Grace’s personal assistant and is unfailing in her on-call devotion for a woman whose music she loves but, deep down, she knows that Grace’s groove needs updating. Maggie has, in fact, done some re-mixing of a couple of the original tracks and thinks she is on to something but doesn’t know how to get her message across to her boss. She has no experience in producing, just an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and the music business. One day, while out running errands for Grace, Maggie meets jobbing musician David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Recognising that he has great talent, she pretends that she’s an established music producer and convinces him to enter the studio to lay down some tracks. She successfully keeps this side-gig from Grace until the day she attempts to line David up as the warm-up act for the diva at an industry party. Suddenly, Maggie finds herself on the outer and is devastated when both Grace and David independently tell her that, “I am not your escape plan.”
In the current climate, a story such as The High Note provides a fairly entertaining couple of hours and contains a decent soundtrack of ‘poppy’ songs elevated by a hint of soul and R’n’B (indeed, there’s a brief homage to the late, great Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, when Maggie kisses her portrait as she exits the Capitol Records building downtown). The lead performances are solid and Johnson and Harrison Jr., in particular, have a genuine on-screen rapport. Ellis Ross brings authenticity to her character as the diva, possibly drawing on her mother for inspiration while Ice Cube overeggs his manager role on occasion but not too much. Some of the other minor characters are also watchable, particularly Eddie Izzard, in a very brief part as a veteran musician who makes some pertinent observations of the ‘biz’.
Ganatra’s film is pleasing enough but lacks zing and ultimately ‘it ain’t got that thing.’ It’s a bit too much ‘by the numbers’ and needed more passion to really fire. Nevertheless, if you feel like escaping to LA and tapping your feet in the dark, then this high note may well be the one you are looking for.
Screenwriter: Flora Greeson
Principal cast:
Dakota Johnson
Tracee Ellis Ross
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Bill Pullman
Ice Cube
Eddie Izzard
Country: USA/UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 113 mins.
Australian release date: 24 September 2020.
Set in the tough milieu of LA’s professional music scene, The High Note is Nisha Ganatra’s kind-of follow-up to last year’s Late Night, at least thematically. Ganatra’s main medium is television, with only occasional forays into movies for the big screen, but with the relative success of her Emma Thompson/Mindy Kaling starrer in 2019 she’s back in the cinema once again. Like her last film, The High Note also deals with the relationship between two women who ultimately care for one another, even though at times their bond is put to the test. In this case, it involves a superstar diva and her faithful assistant, caught in the intricacies of a music business dominated by men, where it’s hard for a woman to get a break.
Grace Davies (Tracee Ellis Ross who, incidentally, is the daughter of megastar Diana Ross) is an extremely popular singer who has reached the pinnacle of her career. She tours regularly but her songs are all from her back catalogue and she hasn’t recorded any new material in 10 years. Her agent, Jack Robertson (Ice Cube), wants to set Grace up with a residency gig in Vegas, where she can perform her greatest hits without the rigorous lifestyle that accompanies touring. They’ve been in a professional relationship for years and they’re not getting any younger, but they still need to prop up their lavish lifestyles - Grace even has her own private jet! Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) is Grace’s personal assistant and is unfailing in her on-call devotion for a woman whose music she loves but, deep down, she knows that Grace’s groove needs updating. Maggie has, in fact, done some re-mixing of a couple of the original tracks and thinks she is on to something but doesn’t know how to get her message across to her boss. She has no experience in producing, just an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and the music business. One day, while out running errands for Grace, Maggie meets jobbing musician David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Recognising that he has great talent, she pretends that she’s an established music producer and convinces him to enter the studio to lay down some tracks. She successfully keeps this side-gig from Grace until the day she attempts to line David up as the warm-up act for the diva at an industry party. Suddenly, Maggie finds herself on the outer and is devastated when both Grace and David independently tell her that, “I am not your escape plan.”
In the current climate, a story such as The High Note provides a fairly entertaining couple of hours and contains a decent soundtrack of ‘poppy’ songs elevated by a hint of soul and R’n’B (indeed, there’s a brief homage to the late, great Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, when Maggie kisses her portrait as she exits the Capitol Records building downtown). The lead performances are solid and Johnson and Harrison Jr., in particular, have a genuine on-screen rapport. Ellis Ross brings authenticity to her character as the diva, possibly drawing on her mother for inspiration while Ice Cube overeggs his manager role on occasion but not too much. Some of the other minor characters are also watchable, particularly Eddie Izzard, in a very brief part as a veteran musician who makes some pertinent observations of the ‘biz’.
Ganatra’s film is pleasing enough but lacks zing and ultimately ‘it ain’t got that thing.’ It’s a bit too much ‘by the numbers’ and needed more passion to really fire. Nevertheless, if you feel like escaping to LA and tapping your feet in the dark, then this high note may well be the one you are looking for.