Marjorie Prime

Being based on a play shouldn't be a detrimental factor in a movie but when it's played like a play, it kinda defeats the purpose of making a film. This one really had the feel of a stage play, done by a small theatre group in a suburban small town theatre company. It did impact a very interesting idea negatively. The film making process added very little to it to help give the story impact. There were some very interesting ideas raised in the film but they were almost lost in the flat delivery. people talking on a stage. undermines the show don't tell aspect of film.

It was the worst movie i have ever seen .... it was really waste of time.... could't understand anything what is the aim behind this movie??? i wasted 1.30h from my time....

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. Grade: A-

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.