Calling all “Forrest Gump” fans—”Here” reunites Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, showing the stages of their lives within one singular space. Yes, that’s right. The movie is shot using one angle; a creative endeavor that ultimately left me feeling disconnected from the story and the characters.
Essentially, the camera was placed in one spot to show everything that happened within that space, covering the span of years from the Ice Age to current day.
It follows multiple story lines with different families and people who have lived in that space including:
- Native Americans
- Benjamin Franklin
- A pilot and his family
- the creator of the La-Z-Boy chair
- Hanks’ parents in the film
- Hanks and Wright
- A family during COVID-19
Though the film showed all these individuals in one space over time, the story mainly focused on Hanks and Wright being a married couple. It follows them being teenagers up to elders dealing with grief, regret and gratitude through life trials.
What worked
What was beautiful about this film was the whole premise that there is so much life happening, including before our time and after us. It’s incredible how we put so much love into our homes and associate all the memories we have with our homes.
This is something that is special to me because I lived in the same house for almost my entire life before I came to college. I truly understand how special homes are, and the memories that we have are so strong and alive in our minds. I know I feel connected to my home, and this film showed how other people do too.
I appreciated how this film took the theme of homes, and made an uncommon message feel so special. This isn’t an overtold story that we see over and over, so it felt like a fresh topic.
Despite hating the still angle of the camera, I will say the ending of the movie is the only time that the camera moves. Because the camera moving is delayed, the ending was satisfying because I finally was able to see faces up close.
What didn’t work
Even though the ending was satisfying, I would have rather seen camera movement throughout the entire film, not just the ending.
The film is based on a graphic novel with the same name, so I understand the singular camera angle was used to bring the novel to life, portraying the film with the same art concept as the novel, but there’s a reason why movies use multiple camera angles—to show emotion through characters’ facial expressions and movement.
While I liked how much life was being shown with different people living in that space, I wish there was less time focused on each of them, because it brought attention away from the main storyline with Hanks and Wright.
The point of so many individuals living there still would’ve been effective with less time focused on each story. I didn’t care to see the creator of the La-Z-Boy make a deal to sell his chair.
Also, I didn’t like that there were no time stamps throughout the film. Sometimes I was confused at which time frame was being shown and it wouldn’t have taken away from the story.
The verdict
Because this movie was stagnant, I didn’t feel the connection that I was yearning to feel in a film that portrays life happening. They could’ve still shown the singular space, but used close up angles to let audiences feel the emotions from each character, especially because this was a sweet reunion for Hanks and Wright.
I give “Here” two and a half out of five stars and I wouldn’t pay to go see it in theaters. It’s something I’d make sure to watch at home, which is suitable for a film about being “right here.”
