Powerful

I wanted to but couldn't!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Marjorie Prime was a film that looked good on paper and I was honestly expecting this to be an interesting, thoughtful and with any luck an exciting film, but I sadly didn't find this film to be particularly good in any of these areas...OK; the first problem I had with this film is the fact that no explanation is given on how the technology works; the start of the film begins with Marjorie engaging with a holographic recreation of her husband, but who created him and how did they create him? This extends further in that there is no real backstory to Marjorie's husband or their relationship - there is one small segment showing Marjorie proposing to her husband (when he was still alive) and I think there were odd occasions where the age gap between Marjorie and her late husband was presented as being an issue, but outside of these things I found no real reason to care about anything that happens; had the film played out more of a touching love story then it may have made the film slightly stronger (sure it would have been a bit sappy and manipulative, but at least it would have been more emotionally involving). The second problem lies with the rather poor and underdeveloped narrative; OK I've already mentioned the lack of explanation regarding how the latest technology works, but I think what is worse than this is the entire manner in which the film is constructed; for example later in the film it shows other family members being alive and well in one scene then in the next scene they are dead and then they are having conversations with surviving family members... However, there's no build up to any of their deaths and the film just carelessly moves from them being alive to being dead and the film just moves along in this carefree and rather monotone manner. It really does beg the question of 'How do you become emotionally involved in such a dreary mess of a film where it is impossible to connect to anyone or anything?' and the simple truth here is that you can't.... As I've already said, the weak narrative is also a big problem; the old lady's Alzheimer's is there, but is never expanded upon. The technology is there and exists, but with no explanation of how it exists. Marjorie's daughter doesn't want anything to do with her deceased father when she is alive, but is quite happy to spend time with him in the afterlife - this could have been warm if any explanation could be afforded to their afterlife connection.With Marjorie Prime what you're really left with for 90 odd minutes are a very basic concept that could have worked (even though it seems like a poor combination of Ghost and AI), but ultimately what you're left with here is a load of pretentious philosophising that is apparently supposed to pass off as dialogue and not much else. To be fair I did like the idea behind the film; i.e technology existing to enable people to bring back a deceased family member and perhaps allow the living person a second chance at rebuilding a life with said deceased person, but the problem here is that a reasonable concept is taken here and tackled in one of the most laborious and dullest manners possible. It's boring, pretentious and rather pointless - avoid.

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-

'Marjorie Prime' can be considered a science fiction film of a particular kind. The director of the film is Michael Almereyda, is 58 years old and without being one of Hollywood's most celebrated names, he has a diverse and exciting cinematographic record that includes action and vampire movies' a 'Hamlet' placed in New York City today and a fairly successful romantic story happening in a New Orleans who is trying to get back to normal after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. This story is about a well-placed family that lives in the near future somewhere on the ocean, and uses hologram and avatars technology to bring a younger incarnation of the long-dead husband to an old and Alzheimer's disease affected mother, trying to bring back from past memories about events and experiences.A lot and very little is known about this terrible neuro-degenerative disease. Diagnosis and symptoms are becoming better known in the smallest details. The population of the globe is aging, and with it the percentage of affected people has grown spectacularly over the last decades. The exact causes are unknown or not elucidated to the end. Heredity plays an important role in 70% of cases, but it is not the only source. Treatments do not yet exist, not even in the near future world imagined in 'Marjorie Prime'. What is proposed at the beginning of the main heroine film is not a healing treatment, but a slowing down of the advance of the disease and an attempt to temporarily remedy the situation by refreshing the memory. The appearance of seemingly real people, frozen in time at a certain age, does not, however, remain without impact on other members of the family. As time passes, other family members begin to need the avatars company. Biological mechanisms continue to do their job, while their virtual partners remain immune to disease or aging. But not in their capabilities. The screenwriters equipped the avatars in 'Marjorie Prime' with cognitive expansion. In other words, avatars learn, enrich their information about their own past (in fact, about the people they represent virtually), and thus improve their interaction and relationships with other people and with each other.As the action progresses, the questions that we can ask multiply. In fact, what are we, people? body? thoughts? an entity that some call soul? Or are we just the memories we leave behind? I will not reveal more because I do not want to take the pleasure of watching those who decide to watch this movie. It can be interpreted as a parable. Perhaps it is about the perennial character of human beings, or of mankind itself. In a world where wealth is getting better and acquiring features that include learning and self-improvement, is there room for people? Because the robots have the potential to overcome the goals we have created, to help people and expand their physical and intellectual forces, and become competitors to the planet's limited resources. When is this threshold crossed? Perhaps it is actually about the perennial character of the human species in another form of incarnation? The film has an end that some will find pessimistic, but I'm not one of them. From the cinefil's point of view, I admired the clever writing story (adaptation of Jordan Harrison's play) and the exceptional play of Lois Smith, Tim Robbins, Geena Davis. Recommended!

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).