Review of HERE: House as Home

December 1, 2024

This was released so quietly, I would not have thought of watching this if I did not see that it starred Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, as well as written and directed by Robert Zemeckis. It turns out that this whole film was a 40th anniversary reunion of the creative team of "Forrest Gump" (1994), including co-writer Eric Roth, cinematographer Don Burgess, composer Alan Silvestri, sound designer Randy Thom, and costume designer Joanna Johnston. 

The title "Here" refers to the one spot where the camera was steady for 99 percent of the film. It caught everything that was happening in front of it, from the dinosaurs and the Ice Age, to the regrowth of flora and fauna. We then see Native Americans, then the building of a colonial mansion by an illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. By 1900, across the street from this mansion, a new house was built, which was a setting for all the stories to follow.

The first residents of this house were pioneer pilot Thomas Harter (Gwilym Lee) and his wife Pauline (Michelle Dockery). In the 1940s, it was occupied by lounge chair inventor Leo Beekman (David Flynn) and his model wife Stella (Ophelia Lovibund). After World War II, Al (Paul Bettany) and Rose (Kelly Reilly) Young moved in. Later, the house also became the residence of eldest son Richard (Tom Hanks) and his wife Margaret (Robin Wright). 

Zemeckis would tell the stories of the Young family interspersed with the stories of all the other past couples who lived in the house. After the Youngs, Devon (Nicholas Pinnock) and Helen (Nikki Amuka-Bird) Harris also lived in that house, through the COVID pandemic. This inter-generational storytelling may be Zemeckis's conceit, but it can be confusing, and ultimately disappointing when some of these stories don't really make an important impact. 

68 year old Hanks and 58 year old Wright played Richard and Margaret from age 18 all the way to their twilight years. Whatever technology they used to attempt to an illusion that they were teenagers did not really work. This made the scenes where they were supposed to be young adults unconvincing and awkward, no matter how hard Hanks and Wright tried. Their best scenes were those when they were middle-aged, and especially the final scene.

Actually, even the central story of the Youngs was not extraordinary or unique. Their family went through things as would any family -- marriage, birth, death, disability, career, sacrifices, financial problems, in-law problems, marriage problems. Zemeckis wanted their audience to see themselves in this family and connect emotionally. Because of this reason, this film will likely resonate more with Gen X (like me) or Boomers, than Gen Y and Z. 6/10.