Marjorie Prime (2017)

Jack and I loved this trippy sci-fi story about the nature of memory featuring an 85 year old woman and her holographic artificial intelligence companion in the form of her late husband Walter in his 40s. Lois Smith is spectacular as the title character. She's now 87 and some of her best work includes Five Easy Pieces (1970), Resurrection (1980), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Dead Man Walking (1995), Twister (1996), Minority Report (2002), Hollywoodland (2006), Turn the River, Please Give, The Nice Guys, and one scene in Lady Bird as the nun. Who better than Jon Hamm (last blogged for Baby Driver) with his handsome chiseled face to portray the ideal husband, well, someone's creation of the ideal Walter. Also terrific are Geena Davis (she won an Oscar for The Accidental Tourist (1988), was nominated for Thelma & Louise (1991), and was great inThe Fly (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), A League of Their Own (1992), and Speechless (1994), to name just a few. I mentioned her cameo in In a World...) as Marjorie's daughter Tess and Tim Robbins (covered in Welcome to Me) as Tess's husband Jon.

Director Michael Almereyda (new to me) adapted the screenplay from the 2014 Pulitzer Prize-finalist play by Jordan Harrison (also story editor and/or writer on 28 episodes of Orange Is the New Black).

Shot in and around a wonderful beach home in Amagansett, Long Island, New York, it makes one quickly realize that AI holograms are for the wealthy in the universe of this creation. There's also one scene apparently in a room at the Metropolitan Museum of NY with a mural on all the round walls.

The haunting music is by Mica Levi (last scored Jackie) but I can't find it online to play it again or play it for you. While I write I've had the movie open in another window (it's available on Amazon Prime with your subscription or for a fee on the other outlets) and skipped around to panoramic shots to hear the music cues. There are a few songs, too, notably the 1968 version of I Shall Be Released by The Band.

I knew that this movie was on my yearly list of honors, Smith having been nominated for a Gotham Award (lost to Saoirse Ronan) and a Spirit Award (will be announced March 3). But my real impetus was hearing Smith read Yes We Do. Even at Our Age (about senior citizens' love and sex) on the Modern Love podcast.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 90%, are more with us than its audiences at 63. We recommend this for your winter viewing.