Here (2024)

Released last fall, Here was promoted mainly as being a reunion for Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis with its stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Hanks and Zemeckis of course have worked together a few times since 1994's surprise hit and Best Picture winner. Here wasn't nearly as huge a hit in theaters, and I didn't go see it since I've simply given up on the presentation quality of theaters in my area, but I was intrigued by the concept of the lifetime of a house.

I tend to have an odd way of looking at things in general; when entering any building that has been around any number of years, I often consider all the people who have passed through its doors and the events that happened there. For example I've lived in the same apartment for the past 22 years, and it was built in 1963. I've often contemplated how many people lived here before me, and what they did. I've brought in a number of technological innovations I considered exciting (culminating in a 75-inch 4K TV with 3D along with a Dolby Atmos sound system), but wondered when the first color TV might have been set up in the same room and what a wonder it might have been then. Going into stores, I remember their history over the past few decades. Having lunch at California Fish Grill, I may have given the person taking my order a bit more history of that building than they cared to hear as I explained that it had begun life as a Good Guys electronics store and pointed at an area where video cameras used to be on display which is now taken up by dining tables.

Here takes that way of thinking and goes to town with it. The unique aspect of it is that the viewpoint remains the same throughout the entire movie- while time goes back and forth very often, the camera never moves an inch throughout the narration. What we look at for the most part is the living room of a house that was built in 1900, but we go back even further than that as that same space is shown during prehistoric times. Early in the film, we see dinosaurs roaming the land and being wiped out by a meteor shower, then the first humans, and the street beginning to take shape during the colonial era. Finally, the house was built in 1900. While the main focus is on the family of Tom Hanks' character Richard during the latter half of the 20th century, we flash back a few times to some of the earlier residents and a family living there in more recent years, cluing us in that the central family doesn't stay there forever.

That central family consists of a young couple Al (Paul Bettany) and Rose (Kelly Reilly), who purchase the house in the 1940s after Al serves as a soldier in World War II. Richard is soon born and we witness his early years. In high school (with Hanks appearing a bit too old for the part here) Richard brings home girlfriend Margaret (Robin Wright) and she becomes pregnant at age 18. This turns their lives upside down, forcing them to marry but live with Richard's parents for a good number of years. As the timeline continually jumps forward and back, we figure out that they make some effort but just can't manage to buy their own home. As the view never changes, we don't know how many other rooms are in the house or what a hardship the couple living with Richard's parents is, but from what we can see everyone seems to get on well enough. There are plenty of humorous and sad moments, just as there are in real life. The performances here work but are just a bit exaggerated so that we never mistake this for a real view on an actual family. Some of the dialogue is delivered as if the actors are performing a stage play for example, and perhaps this story could work in that format.

Rather than simply quick-cutting from one moment to another, the time moves by way of boxes being drawn around parts of the frame and giving us a peek at those same spaces at other moments in time. This is borrowed from the graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which this film is based. I've seen a few sample pages and am interested in checking that out in its entirety. Another transition method is through morphing, a movie effect that began in the 90s where things appear to simply change shape within a few seconds of screen time. It may have been difficult if not impossible to present this movie on conventional film reels which had to be changed every 20 or so minutes; presenting this in a venue with commercial interruptions would also be quite awkward. This simply demands to be viewed uninterrupted with one's full attention. I found all of it mesmerizing, but I saw that reactions from others were mixed.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-Ray
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Blu-Ray disc arrives in a standard case with an outer cardboard slipcover duplicating the cover artwork. An insert with a code redeemable for a Movies Anywhere digital copy is included. On its first play, if you still have BD-Live enabled on your player (most features that used this on older discs have been off-line for a few years) you are presented with a "Data Options" screen where you can give or deny consent for Sony Pictures to use the network to monitor your viewing activity. This can be changed later under the Languages Setup menu and does not appear if BD-Live is disabled or if your player is set to regions B or C.

Those checking this review for technical issues should note that there is an unfortunate "feature" where a small pop-up menu appears onscreen during the movie's end credits. While the regular menu accessible with your remote as the cast begins to scroll, a smaller menu appears automatically giving the options for Main Menu or Extras. If no selection is made it disappears after ten seconds, but I find this irritating to say the least.

Sony did not see fit to release this title on 4K although it is available digitally in 4K. Having watched many 4K discs recently I've gotten quite spoiled by their quality. Going to 1080 isn't as big a step backward as going from that to regular DVD, but particularly the early sequences with visual effects appeared just a bit lacking. The rest at least still looked plenty good enough, however, with details being quite clear including the vacuum cleaner tracks in the carpeting. Being a fan of vintage electronics, I enjoyed seeing the early 1970s Zenith Chromacolor TV which is very similar to the one my family had in the 70s and I saw many important things on it for the first time. In this movie, it seems to appear a bit earlier than it came onto the market, and it stays in use into the mid-80s (ours died in the early 80s.) The view outside the window is always clear also, with no obvious signs of it being fake. The overall viewing effect is more like a painting or a proper photograph, not something cheaper like viewing a video surveillance camera.

The film is presented with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track. There does not seem to have been an Atmos mix done for this film, and the material doesn't really call for anything more complex. Most of the sound stays front and center, with a few ambient sound in the left and right channels. The surrounds and LFE are hardly used, but they do make their presence known during the prehistoric sequence as the meteor shower hits. There are a few later effects of thunder as well. Frequent Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silvestri provides a music score that's dramatic at some moments and whimsical in others.

Extras are a bit on the light side considering many other Zemeckis films have had an entire disc's worth included, and this movie will leave curious viewers with many questions. These play automatically after the movie, following the red copyright warning:

• How We Got Here (The Making of Here) (20:02) is a decent enough look at how the movie was made. We get confirmation that the room we have looked in on was actually a set, and the views outside the window were accomplished mostly with an LED display.
• Deleted Scenes (9:19) are interesting bits that weren't included in the final product, some appear to just take up time but there is one short moment where a cat appears (the absence of any pets in the movie was one criticism I had), and another post-apocalyptic moment shows the living room after humans appear to have gone extinct and the neighborhood is washed away in a huge flood.
• Previews for two other Tom Hanks starrers A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and A Man Called Otto are included.

The concept of Here focusing on centuries of happenings in one space was certainly intriguing to me, and Zemeckis and company didn't disappoint. Having a soft spot for trying different things whether they're truly groundbreaking or just gimmicks, I enjoyed the fixed view perspective which I've seen only a few times before in other films. While the picture quality and audio is pristine enough to overlook the lack of a 4K release, the bonus features aren't very robust. While I do object to Sony's practice of displaying an unnecessary pop-up menu during the ending credits, this release is Worth a Look.
Click to order