Here Movie Review

Here (2024)

Rent Here on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: Eric Roth & Robert Zemeckis (screenplay), Richard McGuire (graphic novel)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
From the beginning of time to the present day, a single plot of land becomes a site for life, love, and loss for the families who build their lives there.

Verdict
This is like a family photo album transformed into a movie. Through a single, static shot of a living room we watch the world, families, people, and styles transform over decades. The plot is watching lives unfurl. The gimmick of seeing it through an immobile camera shot is a draw that works surprisingly well, aided by deft editing. This covers so much ground, and even side characters though under-developed add important context. We watch multiple generations with a focus on the greatest and baby boomer generation. While you don't know who was present before and those that will proceed after, time always marches forward.
Watch It.

Review
I love a gimmick movie; Hardcore Henry, Searching, The Blair Witch Project, Victoria, Before Sunrise, Tenet. Most gimmick movies are divisive. I usually hope to just appreciate the deployment of the gimmick, liking the movie is a bonus.

This starts with interior photos of a house over time before jumping back to the prehistoric age and a quick time lapse from dinosaurs forward. In a way the entire movie is a time lapse. The house is nearly its own character, starting from a hole in the ground to a complete house as various families inhabit the space. One of the first appearances is an elderly Richard (Tom Hanks) who appears to be selling the house. Then we jump back to Al (Paul Bettany) and Rose (Kelly Reilly) Young buying their first house after World War I. We see the family grow and the house change as the greatest generation raises baby boomers. With such a broad story, it's creates context and a comparison across various generations. It makes you think about how many people have tread on a piece of land before you and will after.

Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany play Richard, Margaret, Al

The editing never cuts the whole frame. An inset box fades to a jump forward or back on a specific character or object before the rest of the image then fades. This inset framing mitigates a sweeping change to make the transitions subtle, using a fraction of the screen to make the jump. This finds a way to make a still shot dynamic.

Richard is the son of Al and Rose. The Young family is the anchor, but this jumps around to a number of time periods to create parallels in the story. Unfortunately the other families feel like a distraction even if it shows us how history repeats. We see Richard grow from a baby to a teen, meeting his girlfriend and then wife Margaret (Robin Wright). It's like a photo album as we see several important moments. We see highlights from several families. The other families aren't developed enough to make them engaging. One couple invents the La-z-boy chair while another is a family selling their home during the Covid pandemic.

Tom Hanks, Robin Wright play Richard, Margaret

Richard and Margaret end up living with his parents. It's crowded and Margaret wants their own space while Richard complains about the cost. This movie has plenty of moments where it captures a glimpse of childhood. If it doesn't remind you of growing up, you'll likely see your parents in some of these scenes.

Ultimately the families before and after the Youngs feel like filler. While the themes intersect with the main story, it's clear all other characters are secondary. This explores the idea of 'if these walls could talk.' We do finally see the house, but that parting image is undone by a hummingbird that inexplicably enters the frame. It's a callback to the beginning but completely unnecessary.

Richard was a hopeful artist that took a desk job to support his family. In retirement he's painting, though life is much different. His parents have moved out, as have his kids. The one constant is the living room. This is a technical achievement; the editing and production design impress. My only complaint was how telegraphed a character's illness is later in the film. Movies have conditioned us to expect the worst and decipher the tells. It's clear from the first introduction where that would go.

This gimmick works. The camera is focused on the most active room of the house, seeing the comings and goings of an entire lifetime. We watch styles change, people too. From one family and one generation to the next, we learn the cyclical nature of life. While it's not as ambitious as Boyhood, it does capture a similar notion of seeing an entire life and how quickly it passes. It's a similar theme with a different focus.