Forrest Gump is a film directed by Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, and Robin Wright that tells the story of a man who finds himself at the center of all the major historical moments in his life. This is a film by Zemeckis, Hanks, and Wright about a man who realizes that most of his life involves settling down and watching history pass by.
The film follows billions of years from the age of the dinosaurs to the age of COVID-19, all while centering on a small patch of land. Meteors strike, the world melts, freezes, the sun shines, life returns, life blooms, on this little plot, and then the story moves into the house that was built on top of it.
Now, the passing of times, centuries, seasons and emotions are captured through what happened in the living room of that house. The world through the large windows is a marker, but so are the furniture, clothes, shows on TV, and changing family dynamics.
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The film, based on Richard McGuire’s graphic novel “Here,” describes it as capturing a living room “in which the present is locked in an ongoing dialogue with the past and the future.”
It would be nice if something that sounds great in concept could also be translated to the screen. Not only is the present locked in this living room, it’s squeezed between too much of the past and too much of the future. You’ll find yourself trying to figure out the different timelines that intersect with each other, but you don’t learn much about any of them other than Richard (Hanks) and Margaret (Wright).
The two stars of Zemeckis’ success in “Forrest Gump” are clearly his biggest concerns in “Here.” So why not be honest? Instead, we see a Native couple cavorting in the forest (never too long and doesn’t require any great research legwork), Benjamin Franklin and his illegitimate son and the American Civil War (several horse-drawn carriage rides), to a A budding pilot wins over his fearsome wife (Dockery, wasted) for a couple known as the inventors of the lazy boy chair (the man does all the work, she’s an admirable support ), making a lengthy speech on behalf of Richard’s father. A long time to teach their 16 year olds how to handle things if they get dragged down.
For all of them, life had its thorns, including death, heartache, poor children and dashed dreams. In fact, the only ones who made it through the living room unscathed were the Lazy Boy couple, dancing, romancing, and jubilating their way past, with no children on the horizon.
So what to do here? Is life largely a losing battle with regret? This movie fits that bill, with Hanks and Wright ranking highly for their visibly aging and aging.
Forrest Gump’s mother said: “There is only so much wealth a person really needs…the rest is just for showing off.”
This is what’s left.
Throw: Tom Hanks/Robin Wright/Paul Bettany/Kelly Reilly/Michelle Dockery
director: Robert Zemeckis
grade: 2 stars
