It’s been 30 years since Best Picture winner FORREST GUMP was released. Director Robert Zemeckis along with the two lead actors, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, are uniting again in another ambitious project. Using a stationary camera fixated on one location, HERE covers a gauntlet of time while focusing on the family capsule of life.
HERE follows roughly seven different families within the same spot throughout history and the ups and downs of life. Two families being the main focus, centering mostly around Tom Hanks’ character, Richard. First, when Richard’s parents, played by Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly, purchase the home. Then second, leading to their son Richard growing up and meeting his wife, Margaret, played by Robin Wright, living with his parents before eventually owning the home themselves. Zemeckis wisely cuts in and out of different time spaces with a non-linear story-telling tactic that gives the film a bit of energy. Small rectangles inside the frame showing one of the other stories being told are used as transitions, sometimes simply giving a famous historical slice in time through the television (Beatles on Ed Sullivan) or radio (attack on Pearl Harbor). The whole production is quite creative and necessary to keep the film moving without feeling bogged down or even boring.
Because the film focuses more on our central family, for better or worse that leaves some short change to the other families in history. The only one I would have liked to see more of is the present day family. In perhaps one of the strongest moments in the film, the present day African American family instilling a fear that only a minority in this country can understand as they explain to their teenage son the importance of stating clear intentions with all the respect in the world, to do exactly what an officer of the law says if you get pulled over.
The screenplay by Eric Roth and Zemeckis is based on a graphic novel by Richard McGuire. Despite the over sentimental and generic life story portions, HERE mostly works with a few interesting choices that hit stronger than expected. The central performances are uneven at times, flexing through grand theater stage acting and subtle sincere moments capturing relatable heartfelt joy and sadness. The de-aging CGI was only distracting at the entrance of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. But both actors were able to perform past that and keeping them in the space of the home always works much better than any of the scenes when they are standing close up to the camera.
Composer Alan Silvestri, another FORREST GUMP alumni, hits a similar tone as Gump, which is sadly one of the weak points of the film. Opening with music that feels dated is humorously jarring, slowly morphing into forgettable in that it never helps the story on screen. Similarly, the film opens and closes on a computer generated hummingbird echoing a certain famous floating feather, which honestly looked better when he did it 30 years ago.
HERE has a lot of back and forth on effective and ineffective moments that doesn’t always make for a consistently great movie. Love or hate, it has some CLOUD ATLAS energy for the Baby Boomer generation. However, I recommend A GHOST STORY (a very different movie tonally) as a superior film capturing time in a singular space.
With all that said, HERE is a nice movie, trying some new things while telling familiar stories using top tier talent. From the trailers and images promoting the film, I had my doubts about HERE being overly sentimental and cheesy with too much over-the-top melodramatic stage acting. And that’s not entirely incorrect. HERE has all those elements that I feared, but it’s also creative and emotionally effective filmmaking. HERE was not only better than I expected, it’s actually good. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I bet your parents are gonna love it!
