Marjorie Prime (2017)

Set sometime in an unspecified future, an 85 year old woman (Lois Smith) suffering from dementia sits in her living room talking to a hologram of her deceased husband (Jon Hamm). The holograms are called primes and they are used to deal with the loss of a loved one as well as keeping the living connected to their past through memories. Written and directed by Michael Almereyda and based on the play by Jordan Harrison. Memories are strange things. How dependable are they? Watered down through the years, we remember what we want, we're selective about the things we remember and forget or hide, as the song The Way We Were says, the painful things. Almereyda does very little to disguise the film's theatrical origins. It's a dialogue driven piece with most of the film having two characters (sometimes three) just talk to each other. But the dialogue is important and requires close attention and frankly, I was a bit overwhelmed that I suspect I missed a lot. It's a small gem of a film, not cinematic in the least but the kind of movie you can't easily shake off. Lois Smith (FIVE EASY PIECES, NEXT STOP GREENWICH VILLAGE) is one of those terrific actresses who never attained stardom but this performance should be her legacy. It was great to see Geena Davis (as Smith's daughter) back on the big screen again and she has a beautiful scene that touches your heart without having any dialogue. With Tim Robbins.