The film Here starts Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in a story that moves back and forwards in time but rooted in the same location.
It begins with a slow steady montage that rapidly moves through time at first in the age of the dinosaurs, then an ice age, a period of regrowth, then we see the first humans arrive followed by the colonial settlements and the building of the house which becomes the centre of the story.
For most of the film, the camera is locked in place in the lounge of the house as the action jumps back and forward in time and the various owners and occupiers stories are told.
Transitions between stories and time periods are often shown by bordered images superimposed over the existing scenes which then morph into the next scene. It’s almost like a live action photo display which I found quite fascinating.
The main story is about Richard Young (Tom Hanks), and his wife Margaret (Robin Wright) and explores how their lives unfold over a life time. One of the main tension points for the couple is how they had to put their personal dreams on hold when Margaret became pregnant while both of them are in their late teens.
Rather than cast young actors to play their younger selves, the film uses ‘de-aging’ technology to make the actors look fifty years younger. This technique has been criticised as looking a little odd, but it didn’t bother me and I thought it added something to the film.
The other stories include a black couple living in the house in the present day, a young inventor and his wife in the 1920s; a native American tribe living in the area prior to the discovery of America by Europeans; a young couple in the early 1900s; and Richard’s parents as they get married and start a family. There are also scenes set in the early colonial period and war of independence.
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Each of these other stories are used to fill in the tapestry of the film to give the notion of ‘here’ a historical and wider context, but these other elements seem to be place holders really and don’t dig into the characters or wider issues going on for them.
This for me is the main problem with this film. I realise that Hanks and Wright are the main stars, but the amount of spent telling Richard and Margaret’s story does a disservice to the others. This is especially true with the Native American people and the black family’s story which both feel tokenistic. There is a power scene where the father explains to his son how to manage being pulled over by police but without more time given to their lives and dynamic, this moment feels as thought the filmmakers are just ticking the diversity box.
The film has received mixed reviews which say the mostly locked in camera makes the film too static and staged, that the story is manipulative and even cloying.
I get that, but I really enjoyed it. The acting is great and I really liked the technical aspects and transitions. It also provided a poignant look at how history unfolds and how our environment changes over time in ways we never really consider personally because our time on earth is so short. Ultimately the message I took from this film is that we really ought to make the most of what time we do have and we really ought to prioritise love and relationships because time passes very fast.
HERE
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Duration: 104 Minutes
Open in New Zealand – 31st October 2024