• Director: Robert Zemeckis
• Screenplay: Eric Roth, Robert Zemeckis
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly
• Cinematography: Don Burgess
• Editing: Jesse Goldsmith
• Score: Alan Silvestri
• Genre: Drama
• Runtime: 104 minutes

One house – various occupants. We observe multiple generations in a single space, even before the construction of the building (in a sequence involving the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs) – all the drama unfolds within the same four walls, the camera positioned at the corner of the living room as a constant.

The main focus through the decades is the Young family, primarily Richard and his wife Margaret (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, respectively), and by extension Richard’s parents, his war veteran father (Paul Bettany) and mother (Kelly Reilly). We catch glimpses of other eras; a budding aviator in the early 1900s, a free-spirited wartime couple, ultimately reaching the 2020s (as evidenced by face masks and elbow-bumping).

The storytelling is non-linear – as we hop between times (as depicted by décor and music), a white-outlined square appears onscreen and holds the action inside as everything else in shot gradually shifts around. It’s a little scattered but I appreciate the inventive device to change the environment from one time period to another.

‘Here’ reunites the team behind Academy Award favourite ‘Forrest Gump’; director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth, actors Hanks and Wright, plus composer Alan Silvestri for a kindred jaunt into pop culture history.

For ethical reasons, I believe the so-called ‘digital de-aging’ used should be forbidden; it makes people look like they’re in a video game cutscene. This unconvincing technology only hinders the film when the characters are in the foreground, which is a small portion of the runtime but jarring nonetheless. You’re expecting me to suspend my disbelief and imagine Tom Hanks is playing a 20-something year old despite having the vocal tones of someone triple his age. It’s tantamount to casting grown adults to play teenagers.

Life is celebrated here – the bliss shared, the hardships suffered, births, deaths, ad infinitum; and while sappy, it’s coming from the right place.

My rating: 7 / 10