REVIEW: "Here" (2024)

WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on November 11, 2024. 

It’s almost hard to believe it’s been thirty years this year since director Robert Zemeckis made Forrest Gump, an unconventional character drama that spanned decades, subjects, and generations with a simple man at its center. Now, Zemeckis reunites with that film’s stars, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and some of the same crew (including screenwriter Eric Roth and composer Alan Silvestri) for a daring, experimental concept and story that spans generations, with the camera in one stationary position throughout. 

The fact that Here contains multiple storylines—the central one being Hanks and Wright (still as engaging as ever), as a couple who meet as teenagers and grow old together in his family home—and follows a non-linear structure makes it play like an intriguing novel, as if we’re witnessing a collection of home movies—joys and pains included—recorded over several lifetimes, as well as seasons and holidays. To quote Hanks, time sure does fly here. These are stories of characters with dreams and ambitions, but some who’ve put them aside or given them up for the sake of financial security. (Paul Bettany is equally compelling as a war veteran patriarch.) I’d be interested to hear about the screenwriting process for this particular film. 

But its biggest technical innovation, considering that the camera stays in one place, is its clever and creative editing, with numerous “frames” within that space that serve as scene transitions, thematic connections, or just figurative (or literal) windows to other historical time periods. One particularly fascinating scene involves a cabinet, with a mirror that reveals the kitchen and dining room out of frame. How’s that for creative storytelling? It fits the aesthetic of Richard McGuire’s graphic novel that the film is based on. (Ang Lee and Matthew Vaughn are the only other directors I can think of that have done something similar. But never like this.) 

That being said, the film’s tone is a little uneven. The Benjamin Franklin era, the Lenape indigenous tribe, and “Lay-Z Boy Chair” storylines are each engrossing to a degree, but I don’t think dinosaurs needed to be included in the overall narrative. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of who’s who and why they’re there in the space; at least on a first viewing. Plus, the reported use of AI to de-age and age Hanks and Wright and company feels uncanny, and the setting (while a trove of impressive art direction and production design) can feel a little too artificial. If anything, this experimental project takes the essence and basics of filmmaking and staging to a whole new level. It’s an approach that not everybody will be drawn to or appreciate. I, for one, found it fascinating if curious. I’m pretty sure some people said/say the same thing about Forrest Gump. 

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