In recent years, a lot of mainstream single take films, also known as Oner, also come to surface. A classic example of these films is One Shot, Boiling Point and 1917, which blur out the lines of experimentalism in the cinema genre but is there any single frame film? Once again, Robert Zemeckis, the creator of Forrest Gump aka Academy award winning film, reunites with his crew: this time in Here, thanks to Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. There is nothing unusual about the narrative as well as the form. It’s an odd, but ambitious film, that somehow manages to fail on both accounts.
The ‘futuristic’ de-aging of Hanks and Wright may add a dash of the A.I. controversy to this awards season. Although, it’s difficult to accept that anything could work in this final act of a single-frame narrative. The very essence of the films -Wright’s talent and performance, which is beautiful and deeply-empathic and passive in such a way, as in this season, may be devoted to the dogmas of the ‘sword queen’’ to capture the audience. And, as usual, Hanks does his Hanks thing, although his role of a jaded father here is perhaps not one in the myriad of roles where he steals every scene and moves into the foreground.
With Zemeckis’ new film already in the works, those fans may have already seen the basic premise for Here, which has been shared online, particularly in the little teaser trailer that got published recently. Almost the entire portion of the film is based on a fateful 16×9 letterbox which encompasses the important aspects of the plot, which takes place in times far removed from modernity, focused around multilayered characters that become attached to one singular, small area over years and generations, making it their own, and as the story goes, reunites them all.
Similar to the likes of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life, the Zemeckis and Eric Roth penned screenplay drafts 23 years into the past, to a time primordial – when dinosaurs walked the earth and the world ended the only catastrophe big enough to exterminate them forever. A promising beginning to the drama, after the opening-credits sequence which prepares things, in a very literal way, for events that will take place in the confined in space house across the entire universe.
Much like Malick’s multilayered masterpiece, set over two generations, Here centers on the main characters in the form of Hanks and Wright as a couple who meet in their adolescent years and eventually reside in the titular residential building as a family for most of their lives. Земекис благодаря всему расквывающемуся и очень клишированному музыкальному оформлению, который, возможно, не понравиться более кинокритичным зрителям, умело развивает определенноеNarrative Usher with exquisite technique, cutting in the narrative at once of other people who lived in the house:
- An aboriginal couple (Joel Oulette and his wife Dannie McCallum) having a child before the Europeans landed in the western hemisphere.
- William Franklin (Daniel Betts), son of the former president Benjamin Franklin and his family.
- The sarcastic creator of the recliner David Fynn and his loving spouse Ophelia Lovibond.
- A determined airplane pilot from the early 20th century (Gwilym Lee) and his never satisfied and forever worried wife (Michelle Dockery).
- A wealthy black family during the COVID-19. Apart from the children of Nicholas Pinnock, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Cache Vanderpuye, there was a family house maid (Anya Marco-Harris).
There is also the case of Margaret (Wright) and Richard (Hanks), who have a father Al (Paul Bettany) – a retired war veteran who resents Richard for being the one to make a decision about having a baby so early in life. Any possibilities Richard may have had about pursuing a career as an artist have quickly evaporated. On the other hand, Richard’s affectionate mother, Rose (Kelly Reilly), stays behind on their side, and they all willingly move into their central place of interest together, although some of the results are somewhat mixed.
The Richard-Margaret relationship touches every facet of married life: fall in love, heartbreak or financial stress, career disappointments, proper nurturing of a child, in-laws, boredom in the relationship and others. However still, there’s so much to cherish on the lovely Hanks & Wright, so it’s quite strange that Sony wouldn’t wait until those heart-wrenching elements become overshadowed in the middle of December’s delightful imagery and would stay away from releasing this warm and cozy feeling feature. But hey, what do we know?
Since they start their meandering journey as teenagers, let us give a shot at guessing how the Here team wants to portrait Hank and Wright in the void of youth. Robert Zemeckis has been a movie maker who has been at the cutting edge with respect to digital technology over the last period of three decades, still there have been respective reproaches concerning him of how he has mastered it, mainly regarding the uncanny valley.
That divisiveness persists in Here, with Zemeckis unabashedly showcasing the prosthetics and makeup artists putting a younger version of the actors in front of the camera from time to time which makes one feel that, “Yeah, we hired some great effects artists who made younger versions of actors that look really credible.” An aspect which could turn quite a lot of the audience to the other side, even if this case is milder than, for example, the digitally modified Robert De Niro in the Irishman.
And going back to the rest of the the other actors — as you may have predicted or even hoped, most of those subplots, unfortunately, disappoint and feel like they are there only for the average completionist’s sake, and whilst being a disservice to the dedicated actors who did their part. When trying to include such a wide range of epochs, stories, however, you tend to feel quite let down by many of them, in particular, the recliner designer and his quick-witted wife. These two childless lovers make a fascinating story, and the success they have speaks for itself; a whole, hilarious and warmhearted sitcom could be made out of them.
This is the umpteenth instance of Zemeckis daring experimentalism, which as the title would suggest, will be of single-frame and quick-transitions, so it’s going to be hit or miss. Zemeckis perhaps wants you to take a step back and consider how one lonely room in which we find ourselves absorbs memories, both literally and figuratively. It appears that one does not have to jet all the way across the globe to seek all that life has in store.
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