Here
Tom Hanks and Robin Wright reunite with director Robert Zemeckis for Here. An adaptation of Richard McGuire’s graphic novel of the same name, the film chronicles the generational drama that occurs within a single fixed location, spanning from the modern day all the way back to the dinosaurs. Primarily, the action takes place within the living room of a house in Philadelphia, which has been inhabited by a collection of eccentric and loving families throughout the years. Conceptually, the film’s attempt to tell a familial drama on a cosmic scale is fascinating. In practice, though, the script is overloaded with so much sentimentality that it harms the intimate story this film wants to tell.
Although the camera’s position is unmoving, Zemeckis deploys several editing tricks and framing devices to keep his film visually engaging. Alongside using mirrors and match cuts, panels are inserted to merge moments from different eras together into a single frame, allowing seamless contrast and compare moments from across the vast timeline.
Amongst the home’s various owners, the focus is mainly kept on WWII pilot Al (Paul Bettany) and his wife Rose (Kelly Reilly) as they move into the home in the 40s and raise a family. Their eldest son, Richard (Hanks), marries Margaret (Wright), and the couple then have children of their own under the same roof. The cast are so good throughout the whole film that their digitally aged faces are never a point of distraction. Bettany and Hanks are especially excellent, lending so much charm and heart to the snapshots of their lives that it’s difficult not to be won over by them. Hanks and Wright’s chemistry is also still fully present, with their connection forming the basis of the more emotional beats. As with Alan Silvestri’s whimsical score, however, the sentimentality of these performances is often cranked up to unrealistic levels.
Here aims to be an epic drama about life, family and love across the ages. While clever editing and remarkable performances bring this ambitious vision to life, its sappy writing and meandering plot filled with incidental details that add little to the larger picture stop this feature from being as magical as it wants to be.
Andrew Murray
Here is released on Prime Video on 27th February 2025.
Watch the trailer for Here here:
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