The High Note

Director: Nisha Ganatra Nisha Ganatra

Overview

Director Nisha Ganatra's Los Angeles-based music industry dramedy stars Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bill Pullman, Zo? Chao, and Ice Cube. Maggie (Johnson), the overworked, overlooked and underappreciated personal assistant to superstar singer Grace Davis (Ross), seizes the opportunity to revitalize her boss's career and realize her childhood dream of becoming a music producer.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/11/2020
UPC:	0191329134092
Original Release:	2020
Source:	Universal Studios
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	53,731

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Dakota Johnson	Maggie Sherwoode
Tracee Ellis Ross	Grace Davis
Kelvin Harrison Jr.	David Cliff
Bill Pullman	Max
Zoe Chao	Katie
June Diane Raphael	Gail
Eugene Cordero	Seth
Marc Evan Jackson	Alec
Eddie Izzard	Dan Deakins
Ice Cube	Jack Robertson
Parvesh Cheena	Dry Cleaner
Bianca Lopez	Juice Store Employee
Neil Lane	Neil Lane
Tiffany Elle	Pharmacist
Danielle Barbosa	Piñata Woman
Edras Cerrato	Airplane Pilot
Kyndra Reevey	Grace's Back-Up Singer #1 (as Binkie Reevey)
Jazlyn Martin	Grace's Back-Up Singer #2
Daisha Graf	Grace's Back-Up Singer #3
Kenwood Anderson	Hanky
Sonal Shah	Sunshine
Diplo	Richie Williams
Aram Asatryan	David's Bassist (James)
Liliana Vasquez	E! News Host
David A. Garcia	Taco Truck Guy (as David Alexander Garcia)
Lena Drake	Taco Truck Customer
Julia Dennis	Assistant
Ross Partridge	Bennett
Rupak Ginn	Ryan
Deniz Akdeniz	Spencer
Melanie Griffith	Tess
Jeffery Self	Josh
Erin Flannery	Label Executive
Ali Hill	Grace's New Assistant
Uttera Singh	Theresa
Jayden Taylor	Concert Attendee

Technical Credits

Tim Bevan	Producer
Eric Fellner	Producer
Alexandra Löwy	Executive Producer
Erik Baiers	Executive Producer
Nisha Ganatra	Director
Lisa Pinero	Sound Mixer
Ai-Ling Lee	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The High Note is a comedy/drama with visions of grandeur and amateur talent. A watered-down fairy-tale version of A Star is Born from the perspective of the producers, it manages to hold its own as it hits the right notes, even the high ones. Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) has always dreamed of being a music producer. She lands what she thinks is the ideal job, working as a personal assistant for an iconic though perhaps fading musical talent, Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross). While Grace highly depends on Maggie to keep her relevant in the music industry, Maggie mistakenly thinks that the harder she works as an assistant, the more likely she will get her shot to produce. In addition to the grueling hours she puts into her job, Maggie still stays committed to producing, jumping at any possible opportunity to prove herself. When Maggie meets an up-and-coming new artist, David (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), she takes him on as a second client, and their attraction to each other grows as a result. She then finds herself stretched a bit thin, with everyone needing more of her time and energy. Despite Maggie's high energy and love of the game, even she reaches a breaking point as things start crumbling around her. Maggie and Grace need to figure out the crux of their relationship - are they actually friends, or is the friendship paid for by Grace? While The High Note doesn't bring anything new to the table, it does paint a quiet portrait of what it's really like working on all sides of the music industry. From assistants, to disc jockeys, to producers, to artists, there are many roles at work around the scene. Even the bit roles are filled well, and it all comes together to create an extended slice-of-life scene. Director Nisha Ganatra (Transparent, Cosmopolitan) flourishes in the quiet moments, while the spoken words here are fairly on-the-nose. She imbues a cut-and-paste script with enough charm to fill the running time, pulling from the lot of talent to make something pretty good. Newcomer writer Flora Greeson has created an intriguing story in which the main character is not particularly interesting, but she is heroic and tenacious. The diva character is well-written with plenty of subtlety. The actual love story is with music and is almost an afterthought, and while highly scripted, it's palatable since the rest of the moving parts keep pushing the film forward. Ultimately, there is plenty to like in The High Note, and little to offend. Los Angeles culture and the music business are shown in an intriguing, girl-power story that aims high and lands somewhere above the middle.