“Here” Review: Tom Hanks Can’t Save the Film with De-Aging Technology

Robert Zemeckis' The latest film is incredibly ambitious, from the dinosaurs to the present day with the Roomba. But it is only fixed in one place.

“Here” brings together Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth and actors Tom Hanks And Robin Wright, who worked on it “Forrest Gump.” This time they tell not the larger-than-life story of a man traveling through time, but the centuries-old story of a living room and all the different people who lived there.

In this living room we see a wedding, a death, a birth, a tested marriage, a funeral, lots of vacuuming, lots of birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving, some sex, adults getting drunk, and jazz practice.

Zemeckis places the camera at a fixed angle without moving for the entire 105-minute duration of the film. After a while it's not so strange anymore – so full of life is every shot and every vignette – but there's a nagging feeling that we're in some kind of film experiment, as if we're testing an audience to see how long they'll be looking at old security camera footage.

The camera may not move, but the eras move back and forth in time, from prehistory through the 18th century, the 1940s, back to the hunter-gatherer era, and then into the '60s and '70s, before them reach the early 20th century. It begins and ends in 2022.

Hanks and Wright form the backbone of the film as Richard and Margaret. In dozens of small scenes we watch as he grows up as a boy in the house, falls in love with Margaret, gets married, moves in with her, has a baby and inherits everything. There is no guarantee that they will survive as a couple.

Zemeckis is a filmmaker known for incorporating the latest technology, and this time it's all about aging as a visual effect, essentially turning the 68-year-old Hanks into what he looked like when filming “Splash.” . It's a lot of work, often clumsy, and Zemeckis has lost himself in the uncanny valley, trying to tell a very human story about what connects us, but by changing the actors so much that the human connection is lost. Look closely and you will see that cigarette smoke enters a figure but never comes out.

Other roles include Richard's parents – played brilliantly by Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly — and some unrelated people: a fun-loving couple who lived in the house from 1925 to 1944, and a less fun-loving couple in the early 1900s. There's a 16th-century indigenous couple frolicking in the space that the living room will occupy in 300 years, and another family spending 2020 indoors amid the pandemic.

If that's not enough for you, there's an appearance by Benjamin Franklin. Why Benjamin Franklin? It's connected to the house across the street. What he adds is not entirely clear. The film could use less founding fathers and cutesy details like hummingbirds.

We watch the living room as a television is added — the Beatles' appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” leads to “CHiPs” — and the vehicles outside change from horses to Model Ts to limousines. The home cost $3,400 just after World War II and is now priced at $1 million, and fashions range from Victorian heeled boots to teased hair and American flag shirts.

“Here” – based on the graphic novel by Richard McGuire – is at its best when events at different times are linked together – such as when a roof begins to leak in one era, only to dissolve in a pregnant woman's water in another era. Or when we talk about the flu in 1918 and later we see the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

One theme touched upon, but which could be reinforced, is the impact of downsizing and economic disruption on the psyche, with Richard's father sobbing in full Willy Loman fashion one day after being fired: “They've shrunk me.” Deferred Dreams are another matter, but there isn't enough time for them when you get a silly visit from Benjamin Franklin. And while embracing Native Americans is inclusive, the scenes add little to the narrative.

“Here” fails to connect all these centuries of human experience other than to celebrate the human experience in all its messiness, triumph, and sadness. If these walls could actually talk, most characters would be happiest outside of this living room. Perhaps the strongest theme is voiced by a character who laments, “Time just passed.”

Zemeckis mimics very well the graphic novel's use of squares within the frame, giving a glimpse of what's happening in different eras – like little time travel devices – and kudos to Jesse Goldsmith for the fantastic editing work.

But a visual trick sums up the film: It's supposed to be the story of a real house made of wood and brick, but was shot at the Sony studio complex in Culver City, California. The main character is a fake. “Here” is nowhere.

“Here,” a Sony Pictures release that premieres in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 for “thematic material, some suggestive material, brief strong language and smoking.” Running time: 105 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.