12/33
Based on the comic strip “Here” by Richard McGuire
A generational story about families and the special place they call home, sharing love, loss, laughter and life. It was first published as a comic strip in the comic magazine “Raw” in 1989, and was expanded into a 300-page graphic novel in 2014. At one point early in the film, Richard’s father names several towns that he claims are along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, when in fact they are all towns along Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania, which hadn’t even been built yet at the time. [trailer clip] Richard: You know, if you wanted to, you could spend the rest of the night here.
Clarinet Concerto, Pts
Margaret: I could spend the rest of my life here. Features They Pretend to Conga (1943). 1 & 2Written by Artie ShawPerformed by Artie Shaw and His OrchestraCourtesy of RCA RecordsBy arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment. “Here” is the fifth film directed by Robert Zemeckis starring Tom Hanks, and while it’s not a 2.5-hour epic spanning 3 decades like “Forrest Gump,” it somehow manages to span 65 million years.
We then follow about 5 families in different time periods and their lives in the living room
This is done through the film’s gimmick of placing the camera in one location, focusing on the living room of a house built in the early 19th century (presumably in New Jersey, USA), which includes flashbacks to what was on that land before the house was built, including a Native American tribe. It’s not quite linear, but it’s not too confusing, with the main plot following Al (Bettany) and Rose (Reilly) who buy the house after WWII. They raise their 4 children there, with Richard (Hanks) played by an aging/”Big” era Hanks who is about 16. He then meets an aging Margaret (Wright) and we follow them as they age in the house over the decades.
The editing is sometimes good, but often unnecessarily boring
There are some nice moments, some funny bits, and some sad scenes. Even though it’s a relatively short film, it probably didn’t need at least two of those plots! It tries to depict the little moments of life that add up to the human experience. It gets close, but because of the jump cuts, you don’t get too attached to anyone, so the poignancy is lost.
