Marjorie Prime

It’s the future and gossamer lighting is all the rage, as are holograms that act as replacements for dead loved ones. We’re not sure if these 'primes' are in every home yet, as we only visit one: a beautiful beach house belonging to octogenarian Marjorie (Smith), who has dementia. She lives with her tightly-wound daughter (Davis) and brooding son-in-law (Robbins), as well as prime Walter, a digital facsimile of her late husband at around 40. We understand why she plumped for the younger model: he looks exactly like Jon Hamm.

As the years pass, other primes are downloaded, and much of the film is concerned with characters having conversations with these holograms, who learn to be more real by absorbing stories about the person they’ve replaced. This relies on human memory, which can be deceptive (or defective in Marjorie's case).

Michael Almereyda’s modest film is limited in scale, but asks grand questions. Imagine Blade Runner 2049  on a microbudget or an episode of Black Mirror with a turbocharged IQ, and you’ll get something close to this soulful and quietly moving sci-fi. [Jamie Dunn]