Have you ever contemplated the word, here? What does it mean? What does it represent? Look it up, and the definition is in, at, or to this place or position. It is a spot, whether it be a piece of land, a place on a floor, etc. It can represent so much, yet one single thing all at the same time. Usually, society doesn't put much thought into the word or the idea of the concept "here," but in the new film by Academy Award-winning director, Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future), Here is really a viewpoint to life and time from one, single location...here.
Here doesn't tell one story, though it focuses primarily on the Young family, instead choosing to watch the world evolve from a fixed vantage point. We see the earth from the times the dinosaurs roamed the land to the ice age, to man's settlements. All of the vignettes are intertwined, jumping back and forth in history and yes, even into the future, like a deck of cards being shuffled by the dealer from their place behind the card table. However, unlike the dealer, who has a view of the whole casino floor and the people all around, the audience only gets one, stationary shot.
Al (Paul Bettany; Avengers: Infinity War) and Rose (Kelly Reilly; Sherlock Holmes) buy a home outside Philadelphia after the War. The view from the main window looks across the street at the old plantation home once inhabited by William Franklin (Daniel Betts; War Machine). However, before the house was built, the land was thought to have been an ancient, Indian Burial ground. Before the Young Family owned the house, its previous owners were a husband, wife, and their daughter in the late 1800s and the inventor of the Lazy Boy recliner and his wife.
Al and Rose raised their three children in the home, and when their oldest, Richard (Tom Hanks; Cast Away) married his high school sweetheart, Margaret (Robin Wright; The Princess Bride), and had a baby, they lived there too. There was love in that home and fights illness and death. That spot had seen it all, many times over. Dreams achieved, dreams postponed or changed, disappointment, and it weathered the storm and was still standing for over 100 years. Of course, before the house stood, there was a wilderness with animals and Native Americans.
Robert Zemeckis took what was originally a graphic novel and made it into a feature film showcasing many different lives from one place. He also transitioned from moments of each story to the next by using panels like in a comic book. The effect is interesting and unique but not quite successful. Having different panels showing the various vignettes makes the viewer unsure of where to look, therefore scattering their focus. The panels were also distracting as background noises came from everywhere at once. The CGI aging and de-aging was well done, even though the technique still isn't perfect.
Here makes one think about their lives, the choices they make, the relationships they form, and the mundane and trivial details of everyday life. Looking at it through that lens makes it depressing as heck. The target audience for the film is definitely a more mature generation; however, that audience will be as sad and introspective as I was leaving the theater. Looking back through their sixty, seventy, or more years on earth, they will want to question many of their life decisions that brought them where they are today, which in some respects is here.
Interesting, different, and well-acted can't make up for the melancholic feeling one is left with as the credits roll.
Grade: C-
