Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis is re-teaming with the stars of the 1994 film that won him the Best Director Oscar — “Forrest Gump”‘s Tom Hanks and Robin Wright — for his latest drama “Here”. It opens November 1st. And if you’ve noticed online, the posters of “FG” and “Here” have plenty of similarities, from how the actors are facing away, to the font of the text, to the white background and more.
I’m not a “Forrest Gump” fan. But I have appreciated some of Robert Zemeckis’ other movies over the years. The original “Back to the Future” (1985) is fun. The groundbreaking “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1989) is vivacious. 2004’s “The Polar Express” was the first film I ever saw in IMAX (specifically in IMAX 3D, during its 2005 re-release). Stunning visuals and an emotional story.
2007’s “Beowulf”… not so much. But Zemeckis bounced back with “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” in 2009, using motion capture technology in new and very interesting ways. Jim Carrey, who shot his performances in a relatively short period of time, delivers some of the most underrated work of his career, in a surprisingly sophisticated and dramatic treatment of the classic Charles Dickens story.
2012’s “Flight” featured an excellent performance from Denzel Washington and a wild upside down plane sequence. And while it doesn’t have the same, four-star impact of documentary “Man on Wire”, 2015’s “The Walk” is a perfectly good dramatization of Marcel Marceau’s famous walk between the Twin Towers. “Allied” (2016) had gorgeous costumes, but that’s about it. 2020’s “The Witches”… well… let’s just kind of forget that ever happened.
“Here” marks the fifth collaboration between Zemeckis and Hanks (they also worked together on the solid “Cast Away” and not quite as successful 2022 version of “Pinocchio”). It’s got a unique hook: the entire film takes place in one room, spanning many, many years. Will it work, or is this just a gimmick?