Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright have reunited on screen once again for this new film called Here. Zemeckis, Hanks and Wright were all together for Forrest Gump, and now they are focusing on a specific house.

This film has a specific gimmick to it. The camera was stoic, steady and unmoving for the entire movie. There was one angle that the movie had and it told multiple stories through the life of the house (and the plot of land that it was built on) with that single shot.

The main story that was told was the life of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. We saw Tom Hanks, who played the character Richard, grow up, fall in love, get married and become a father in this one room of this house that we see. Robin Wright played Richard’s wife Margaret and she was involved in much of the main story.

One of my favorite characters involved was Richard’s father, Al (Paul Bettany). His wife was Rose (Kelly Reilly) and they were shown throughout their lifespan inside this house.

Using these postcard like boxes, the movie transitioned between stories. Other stories included a Native American family, the man who created the La-Z Boy recliner, a recent black family, a early aviator whose wife hated the airplane, and the illegitimate son of Ben Franklin. None of these extra stories had much if any impact, outside of just continuing the life of the house. These were pauses from the Richard-Margaret family story meant to simply break from those characters.

I liked the format of this movie, but there were some issues with it. The main story had my attention every scene they had, but all of the other ones were so slight that they were a distraction. This movie did feel too long and a couple of these extra stories could have been dropped to shave off some time.

The CGI was decent in the movie, especially the de-aging of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Some of the background CGI was obvious, but it did not ruin anything. I did like the music of the film as it helped show us the advancement of time.

This is a interesting movie with a gimmick that I have not seen before, unless you are a fan of stage plays with the single location setting. The film was too long, but the main story was likeable because of the excellent actors.

3.5 stars