Marjorie Prime

August. 18,2017      
Rating:
6.3
Trailer Synopsis Cast

A service which creates holographic projections of late family members allows an elderly woman to spend time with a younger version of her deceased husband.

Geena Davis as  Tess
Hannah Gross as  Young Marjorie
Jon Hamm as  Walter
Leslie Lyles as  Mrs. Salveson
Tim Robbins as  Jon
Lois Smith as  Marjorie
Azumi Tsutsui as  2nd Generation Marjorie, Age 30
Bill Walters as  Old Jon (as W.A. Walters)
Stephanie Andujar as  Julie

Reviews

Wordiezett
2017/08/18

So much average

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BelSports
2017/08/19

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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Anoushka Slater
2017/08/20

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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Scarlet
2017/08/21

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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sadrazam-29340
2017/08/22

This movie can be sci-fi but they way is dialog and palces are so boaring. Onle 1-2 place take the movie and dont waste your time with this movie.

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siderite
2017/08/23

The film is clearly a play adaptation. There are only a few actors in static sets, mostly talking to each other, while other details are scarce. It wasn't a surprise when I saw at the end that it was based on a play that won a Pulitzer award, because I really liked it. However, you need to be in the right mood to feel it, and maybe understand a little bit the technology that it describes. The subject of the film is a holographic AI technology that can bring the appearance of people into your house. They start empty at first, but as you tell them more and more about "themselves", they start behaving like the real people. This is described mostly in the context of grief for dead ones, but it's the same technology featured in the new Blade Runner. With its slow, dialogue based, pace, the film explores the nature of memory, the difference between how we are and how others see us and ultimately our own sense of identity. The crown of the movie is the end scene, where "Primes", holographic duplicates of people now long gone, converse with each other, showing how different the people they are emulating were from the way other described them. It was a very refreshing film, even if the mood was so gray and timeless that my wife could not or would not let herself be drawn into it. After all, it is all character based, the sets and even the various details of people's life are completely irrelevant. The acting was top notch, with basically four or five people in total that mattered. The music is classical, almost requiem like, hinting at the moment when we are all passed and replaced by the memories others have of us. I was torn between giving it top grade or not. I've decided that it was not a perfect movie. What bothered me most was the lack of communication between the different AIs, when that is specifically described in the beginning. In trying to make it a humanist story, they neglected the actual workings of the tech behind it. I understand why they did it, but it still bothered me. The acting was very good, but sometimes flickered. The pace was slow enough to fall into the illusion that the movie would go on forever, automatically generated by my TV. It very well could have. What I liked about it was the solid intellectual stance on the subject. It doesn't try to be overly subtle, but it is unapologetically smart. It's not one of those "oh, you missed that scene and you are too stupid to get it" things, it is clear cut but intelligently made. I also liked the underlying theme that we are not our memories and clinging to them other than to build our present life on is pointless and potentially harmful. I recommend this film to just about everybody smart, but have the time and leisure to watch it. A nice quiet evening alone or with people close to you, with a glass of something, sounds perfect to me.

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ianjaitken
2017/08/24

There was a lot of posturing for this movie really got going.It wasn't until an hour in before my imagination was twigged.And then the movie was over.So a painful run up that had me almost turn the film off, then a meander into a compelling story line.It was painful the first hour, so dry and uninviting. There's not much to get into in the first half of the movie, but then the twist is shown and partially developed just to end suddenly.Disappointing really, where there was potential, it seems as if this film never really got there.A poor mans black mirror, which should have focused on the more compelling story line, that only really takes shape in the second half of the film.They also referenced the film "her" in promotional materials, but this film doesn't really compare to the far more complete movie "her".5/10

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JvH48
2017/08/25

Saw this at the Rotterdam film festival 2017 (website: iffr.com). It all started as a compelling and original premise, but I got lost underway about what it all meant story-wise speaking. A lot of talking, but I still don't know what makes everyone tick. On the other hand, we were made aware that manipulating the past is one of the prime issues at hand, once you are given the opportunity to re-make idealized versions of deceased relatives, and to even improve on them by planting memories that are not completely true to reality (every now and then we hear the words "I'll remember it now"). Could have been thought provoking, but I lost my interest halfway the running time.All in all, the actors are much better than the play they act in. The festival visitors ranked this movie a bit better than halfway at the 57th (out of 172) place for the audience award, with score 4.009 (out of 5).

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