48/18
Based on the comic book “Here” by Richard McGuire
Narrative
An intergenerational story about families sharing love, loss, laughter and life and the special place they live. It was first published as a strip in Raw comic magazine in 1989 and expanded to a 300-page graphic novel in 2014. [from trailer] Richard: You know, you can spend the rest of the night here if you want.
Features Toast of the Town (1948)
Margaret: I could spend the rest of my life here. “Here” is the fifth film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, and while it’s not a 2.5-hour epic spanning three decades like “Forrest Gump,” it somehow manages to span 65 million years. This is done through a cinematic trick of keeping the camera in one place, focusing on the living room of a house built in the early 19th century (mostly in New Jersey, USA).
Land before building a house, including an American Indian tribe
We then follow ~5 families and their lives in the living room at different times. It’s not all linear, but it’s not too confusing, and the main plot follows Al (Betney) and Rose (Reilly) buying a house after World War II. There they raise their 4 children and Richard (Hanks) is played by the revived/”Big” era Hanks from ~16.
The editing is sometimes good, but often unnecessarily annoying
He then meets a revived Margaret (Wright) and we follow them as they age in the house for decades. There are some beautiful moments, some funny parts and some sad scenes. Even if it’s a relatively short film, it probably wouldn’t need at least two of these sequences!
It tries to depict the small moments of life that comprise the human experience
Close, but because of the jump, you don’t stick too much with anyone, so you lose the thrill.