AFI FEST 2024: Wright and Hanks Reunite in Emotional Drama Here

Growing up in St. Louis, my Great Grandparents had a four family flat that had been in our family for decades.  Of course, as each one passed on along with the changing times of each decade the property was quick deeded and now sits as an empty cave to memories and rooms that were the blueprint of my childhood.  I often wonder what will become of the property and what new memories of energy with inhabit that space in the future.

Adapted from Richard McGuire’s acclaimed graphic novel, Here covers generations of people who live out their lives in one spot on Earth. Stretching from prehistory all the way to the present day, the film is a capsulation of all the love and loss that can unfold in a single place.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Here reunites him with his Forest Gump stars Robin Wright (Margaret) and Tom Hanks (Richard Young).  Their characters fall in love and get hit with one challenge after another.  Yet, it is  that love for one another that keeps them together through it all.

 

Richard dreams of being an artist, but when he becomes a teenage father, he feels pressured to create a stable life for himself instead of pursuing his passion. “Richard grows up in a house where the threat of money, the threat of not having money, is the lifeblood of what goes on,” says Hanks. “His parents grew up in a very volatile, dangerous kind of daily existence. That’s not the case for the generation that was born after World War II.” That generational divide between Al and Richard has given Hanks a personal connection to Richard’s character. “I was always forced through this prism of being worried about money, terrorized about money,” he says. “That’s the difference between a happy-go-lucky, joy-filled life and one of constant burden.”

Hanks and Wright are perfection on screen together.  There is such an ease and shorthand to their collectively artistry that serves as a warm cinematic hug for all time.

However, Zemeckis introduces us to other that have inhabited this house in which we are only privy to seeing one room.  It’s a room filled with creativity, inventions, dance, laughter, tragedy, joy, death and the memories that pepper all of it.

Two moments that really hit me to the core was watching a Black family who once lived in the space,  sit with their son giving him instructions on navigating being stopped by the police.  It was simple yet emotionally stunning. Secondly, watching the film begin with two chairs in an empty space and ending the same way with a revelatory piece of information about Richard and Margaret left me in the ugly cry. Weaving virtual boxes that takes the audience in an out of the decades of individuals who have lived in that one room is fascinating and prompts memories of your own.

Memories of being in the moment savoring and devouring all that life has to offer with those you love for as long as you can in a space simple called home. Here will make you reach out to loved ones or treasure the ones that are near and dear as their presence in your home and heart can never be replaced.