In keeping with October and November’s Unloveds, this video essay is as much an exploration of a freshly neglected movie as it is a tribute and thank you to some of my favorite writers. As Dave Kehr will tell you, Robert Zemeckis‘ “Here” is one of the most unjustly neglected movies of the decade with only a few months of life under its legs, but he’s correct nevertheless. And it’s through Dave’s lens that Zemeckis stops being a mystery, even to a born skeptic like myself who was immune to his charms for most of my life.
But with “Here,” it all clicked. I “got” this man and his art, though it helped that he made one of the finest American movies of the new century. Equally helpful in decoding the art of Zemeckis was my friend Ben Sachs, one of the great critics and someone I’ve been reading faithfully for almost twenty years. He helped me make sense of Zemeckis and primed me to walk into “Here,” collect every strand and connect every dot. Two of Chicago’s greatest writers gave me a new way to see an artist. What more can you ask for? Read them often, don’t forget our history, and always believe in art and experimentation. The soul needs them.
