Marjorie Prime

— “Marjorie Prime” is another film I missed when it came out and am just now seeing. It’s an interesting story that takes place in the near future. Marjorie, an 86-year-old with a failing memory is given a very realistic hologram of her “in-his-prime” husband, Walter. The hologram, known as Walter “Prime,” becomes more and more like Walter as he converses with Marjorie and Marjorie’s daughter and son-in-law, remembering every story and emotion. It sounds like run-of-the-mill sci-fi but the heart of the story is in its look at history and memory, not at holograms and their usefulness. There’s even mention of William James’ view of memory, not as retrieval of a primary remembrance, but of the most recently altered remembrance so every time you remember something, you probably alter that memory and store it back in your head slightly changed for the next retrieval. Between that phenomenon and the fact that everyone’s memory of an event is somewhat different, it’s hard to know where truth lies, as the family delves deeper into their own sometimes painful past, revealing what we might now call “alternate truths” or, at the very least, “blurred facts.” These soft edges are made real by an outstanding cast and cinematography that revels in fog and rain. It’s well worth seeing, and something a bit more cerebral to watch during the summer season of blockbusters, bro-mances, and chick flicks. [DVD or Amazon Prime streaming.]

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[2017. 99 min. Directed by Michael Almereyda. Starring Lois Smith, Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, and Tim Robbins.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/marjorie-prime-2017