By Samuel Rillstone
Robert Zemeckis has reteamed with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for Here, a film that explores the human experience while also playing with the form of film storytelling.
Here is based on a graphic novel by Richard McGuire and spans from prehistoric to modern times. The film reveals a hyper-real, slightly simplified version of the human experience, showing the stories of two families in close time periods going through different things.
The film has a play-like quality, because everything takes place in the same frame. The camera doesn't move, instead focusing on a single piece of land across time and generations, telling the stories of the different inhabitants and their life events, while the characters move in and out of the frame.
Creative editing by Jesse Goldsmith mimics the look of the graphic novel/original comic strip, with the main frame sometimes divided up into smaller frames to show passage of time with the same characters, or to show the space in different time periods.
De-aged Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in Here. Photo: Miramax
The main family story is one of generational trauma and the history of a space, based on the idea that a singular space like a home or a room can see so much and almost hold memory. You do have to give yourself over to the whimsy of this for it to work, though the performances, especially from leads Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, are strong and endearing.
The pair take you through a journey with a lot of heart and believable emotion, even though it's a bit weird when the actors are de-aged (Zemeckis always likes to use the latest tech) but their voices stay the same. Seeing Tom Hanks play an 18-year-old with his 68-year-old voice missed the mark for me. Thankfully the de-aged portions aren't too extensive or close up.
These big moments or memories are meant to be interpreted as common experiences, but it comes across a bit heavy-handed at times. The story does stumble a bit in parts, but it all comes together in the end.
The concept of sonder - that everyone is living a life that's very different and yet similar at the same time - is powerful if you give yourself over to it.
Here (PG-13) is in NZ cinemas now.