Marjorie Prime

USA • 2017 • 99m •

• Directed by: Michael Almereyda. • Starring: Stephanie Andujar, Hana Colley, Geena Davis, Hannah Gross, Jon Hamm, India Reed Kotis, Leslie Lyles, Cashus Muse, Tim Robbins, Lois Smith, Azumi Tsutsui, Bill Walters, Marshall Axt. • Music by: Mica Levi.

In the near future, a time of artificial intelligence: 86-year-old Marjorie - a jumble of disparate, fading memories - has a handsome new companion who looks like her deceased husband and is programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance?

Trailers:

Length:

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Korean Trailer

1:35

Teaser

0:31

Trailer #1

2:22

Trailer #2

2:07

Review:

You might not want to watch "Marjorie Prime" if you're either sleepy or grumpy. It's a slow, cerebral, and very melancholy film. But it's also thought provoking and satisfying in the way that well told stories about death and loss can be.

Set in a near future, it tells the story of three family members -- a mother, her daughter, and the daughter's husband -- who deal with the grief of losing their loved ones by communing with virtual reality recreations of them. It's based on a play, and it shows; the film isn't especially cinematic, and it might test the patience of viewers who want more from a movie than a succession of lengthy mostly two-character dialogues. But it's superbly acted, and it raises questions about the nature of memory that are fun to ponder. The film suggests that our memories already manufacture virtual realities around the events we've already lived through, and that the idea of some day being able to have conversations with versions of those we've loved won't be that different from sifting through the memories of them that we have available to us now.

Lois Smith gives an award worthy performance as the matriarch who kicks off the film and who we see in the first scene chatting with her dead husband, played by Jon Hamm. Geena Davis plays her daughter, and Tim Robbins her son-in-law. All four actors are superb. A final scene, that finds the three virtual reality creations free from their owners and having a conversation between themselves, is especially haunting.

Review by evanston_dad from the Internet Movie Database.