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SFFILM Festival

Marjorie Prime

Directed by Michael Almereyda

USA | 99

9 Apr
Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 6:00 pm PT

Description

Michael Almereyda’s complex and moving film introduces us to Walter Prime (Jon Hamm), a hologram meant to help the aged Marjorie (stage legend Lois Smith) recall treasured memories shared with her husband. While he is there to help her remember happier times, his immersive presence ignites feelings and memories both good and troubling for Marjorie, her daughter Tess (Geena Davis), and son-in-law Jon (Tim Robbins). Art-house audiences know Almereyda for his experimental verve from his vampire tale Nadja (Festival 1995) to his modern-day Manhattan spin on Hamlet (Festival 2000) and the period science drama Experimenter (Festival 2015). Inspired by the stage origins of Harrison’s story, Almereyda, the inaugural recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship, delivers a high-tech tale that’s grounded, natural, and matter-of-fact. His impressive ensemble rises to the task with Robbins and Davis articulating the anxieties of viewers questioning their own feelings about care of the elderly in the future. Hamm, smart, soft-spoken, and dashing, delivers the deep emotions and meaningful questions at the heart of Harrison’s story. But Almereyda’s main focus is on Smith, who delivers a tour-de-force performance of a role she originated onstage in 2014, bringing real heart to this virtual-reality story. —Steve Ramos

Director Michael Almereyda

Michael Almereyda, the inaugural recipient of the SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship, made his directing debut with the short A Hero in Our Time (1985) before making his feature debut with Twister (1989). Among his other films are Another Girl, Another Planet (Festival 1993), Nadja (Festival 1995), The Eternal (1998), Hamlet (Festival 2000), Happy Here and Now (2002), This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs The Late Henry Moss (2003), William Eggleston in the Real World (2005), Paradise (2009), Cymbeline (2014), Experimenter (Festival 2015), and Escapes (Festival 2016).

Film Details

Language English

Year 2016

Runtime 99

Country USA

Director Michael Almereyda

Producer Uri Singer

Writer Michael Almereyda

Editor Kathryn J. Schubert

Cinematographer Sean Williams

Music Mica Levi

Cast Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Lois Smith, Tim Robbins