Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writer: Eric Roth, Robert Zemeckis, and Richard McGuire
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, and Paul Bettany
Hello and welcome back to another week here at Mindless Movie Reviews. As the weather starts to turn, I hope everyone is doing well as we begin to head into the Holiday season. This week I was shocked at my immediate reactions to watching “Here”. Not only was it a ground-breaking film with its style, but the story was also a very emotional tale. But before I go too much farther into it, let me first put out the required spoiler warning. I hope you stay here, but if you don’t want to know what happens yet, then go here instead and check out what other movies I have reviewed. Either way, please stick around here for a while.
Ok, so do jump right into it. “Here” is the latest film by Director Zemeckis (who has worked with Hanks several times in the past) and also one that he really pushed the creative boundaries on. It was fun to see him, Hanks, and Wright work together again as well, something we haven’t seen since Forest Gump (1994).
The thing that makes this ground-breaking is the fact that the camera was in the exact same place for the entire movie… except for maybe a minute or two right before the end. Basically, we see about a hundred years or so pass by forward and backward from all the way back to indigenous people to the current time. It’s done cleverly by various boxes showing up depicting scenes that are simultaneously happening in the same location but at a different point in history. Honestly, it’s hard to describe, but within the first 5 minutes, you can tell what’s going on.
Throughout these passages of time, there is one constant and that is Richard (Hanks). From the time he was a baby in his parents’ (Al played by Bettany, and Rose played by Kelly Reilly) house all the way through him being an old man. When he becomes a teenager, he brings Margaret (Wright) home and then she becomes another constant in the flow of time. There were a handful of young actors/actresses playing Richard and his siblings at various ages through time as well as several young actresses playing Richard and Margaret’s daughter Vanessa for the same reason.
I especially loved how they tied in a few of the other stories as well. Since there were lots of different families living in that house both before and after Richard and his family lived there, there were lots of little details to piece together. Plus, the people that lived on the land before it was even a house. My favorite one was the indigenous couple that was on the land. The man made a necklace for the woman and put it on her. Later we find out they had a baby and eventually, when she died, she was buried on that land. Later on in the future, some historians come over and they end up digging in the backyard and finding that necklace.
As neat as the filming was, the story itself was pretty heartbreaking. Zemeckis chose to show us so much of the bad stuff that happened to them along the way and only sprinkle in some good here and there. It starts with Al’s constant struggles at work and his drinking too much. Later on, when Margaret gets pregnant, she and Richard are forced to live in the house and neither one of them gets to chase their dreams. Margaret spends most of her life living in the house and doesn’t want to be there. Even when Rose has a stroke, she and Al leave the house to them, so they can go live in Florida, she doesn’t want to be there. Eventually, after Rose passes away and Al is forced to come back home due to a broken hip, Margaret decides to leave Richard.
So, through all of that, they have to spend the latter part of their lives mostly alone. They both end up doing some things that make them happy, but it’s pretty much too late by then. Eventually, Richard brings Margaret back to the house one last time as it’s sitting empty again. That pretty much closes out the movie with another sad moment. Like I said, this pulls on the heartstrings and you end up feeling bad for pretty much everyone in that whole family.
It’s been a while since I watched a movie that stayed stuck in my mind throughout the rest of the day and into the next like this one did… at least not for a good reason. Honestly, I wouldn’t say I like it because the movie was made in an elegant way and I enjoyed watching all of the details throughout time change as the scenes change. Bravo to Zemeckis for making this the way he did and telling a story that spans generations. However, when it’s all said and done I can’t give this anything higher than a 6 out of 10.
So, there you have it for another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. Have you had a chance to check out this movie yet? Do you like seeing Tom Hanks and Robin Wright on the screen together for the first time in a while? Please let me know your thoughts on this and I want to see if anyone feels the same way about it that I did.
Join me next week when I will be back for another mindless movie review of some sort.
