Robert Zemeckis loves to tell stories and combine them with technical innovation. CAST AWAY, THE POLAR EXPRESS, WHAT LIES BENEATH, and most recently THE WALK were all visually exceptional and broke new ground. Protagonist Tom Hanks was often by his side. The six-time Oscar winning FORREST GRUMP rested on his shoulders, for example. For HERE, he gathered the old FORREST GUMP gang back again. Along with Hanks there’s also Robin Wright on board. The screenplay was written by Zemeckis and Eric Roth again. Dan Burgess is behind the camera, Alan Silverstri did the music. Almost even greater than the expectations of this dream team is the excitement surrounding Zemeckis' new film concept: A place on the map, a field, a house, a home - HERE follows nothing less than US American history with its camera. The camera is tied to one place. Th environment is constantly changing. A very similar concept to David Lowery’s A GHOST STORY. At the time of President Benjamin Franklin, the setting is still an insignificant spot next to the estate of his brother William. The house that’s built there is inhabited by an inventor and his wife in the industrialization era. In the present, it’s an upper class African-American family. The plot focuses on Richard (Hanks) and Margaret (Wright), who fall in love there in the 1950s and grow old. HERE captures this in an impressive and coherent way using special effects. Dreams, wishes and the sometimes harsh reality condense into a distillation of the life of the white American middle class. The other subplots of the story don’t work as well. The focus is on Wright and Hanks or Richard’s film parents Kelly Reilly and Paul Bettany and their excellently acted, often moving family history.

Lars Tunçay (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy