Here: Movie Review

Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery, Gwilym Lee

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis' reteaming with Forrest Gump co-stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright  wants to be a mawkish affair that exploits every kind of human connection and tragedy over 100 minutes.

But what emerges from the gimmick of a single framed shot inside a living room is something that never hits any emotional depth and feels like an incomplete play with a non-linear narrative contrivance that never quite hits.

Based on a 2014 graphic novel, Hanks plays Richard Young, whose parents Al and Rose (Bettany and Reilly respectively) own the aforementioned living room. As the years come and go the Young family encounters life's highs and lows - from births to deaths and everything in between.

In fairness to Zemeckis, it's an audacious premise that begins with the single spot of land being nothing more than primordial swamp land. As it grows to current day, the land sees Benjamin Franklin, some Native Indians and an inventor inhabit its bones. But the film spends most of its time with the Young family, starting with their generational ownership from Al's purchase after returning from the war.

Yet Here never really spends much time here nor there with its inhabitants to form enough of a connection or emotional edge. Overlaid images of different timezones signify the swapping of timelines and the ebb and flow of generations - but most happen so quickly there's barely time to connect to the cloying narrative as it progresses.

Frustratingly, there's the African-American owners of the property (clearly in the 2020s based on the Covid implications) whose screentime is egregiously wasted and confined to some of the worst stereotyping of their race - it's despairing that Zemeckis has nothing pertinent to say about them - other than negativity.

Side plots about the inventor of America's La-Z-Boy chair and a man obsessed with flying the first aircraft flop without any kind of cathartic or earned resolution.

Whilst the regrets, recriminations and reflections pass before the audience eyes, there are one or two touches that speak more than words could. From a story about the generational oppression of women's dreams and hopes to their confinement as domestic instigators, the film has tantalising edges to nourish its audience but never once lets them grow.

Equally, the use of de-ageing AI is beyond jarring and outside of the industry implications, the fact the narrative has little to complement the characters speaks volumes to where exactly Home has failed.

They do say home is where the heart is - but in the case of this Home, it's clear the heart was in the right place, but the mind was anywhere else but on its execution.