Marjorie Prime was a film that looked good on paper and I was honestly expecting this to be an interesting, thoughtful and with any luck an exciting film, but I sadly didn't find this film to be particularly good in any of these areas...
OK; the first problem I had with this film is the fact that no explanation is given on how the technology works; the start of the film begins with Marjorie engaging with a holographic recreation of her husband, but who created him and how did they create him? This extends further in that there is no real backstory to Marjorie's husband or their relationship - there is one small segment showing Marjorie proposing to her husband (when he was still alive) and I think there were odd occasions where the age gap between Marjorie and her late husband was presented as being an issue, but outside of these things I found no real reason to care about anything that happens; had the film played out more of a touching love story then it may have made the film slightly stronger (sure it would have been a bit sappy and manipulative, but at least it would have been more emotionally involving).
The second problem lies with the rather poor and underdeveloped narrative; OK I've already mentioned the lack of explanation regarding how the latest technology works, but I think what is worse than this is the entire manner in which the film is constructed; for example later in the film it shows other family members being alive and well in one scene then in the next scene they are dead and then they are having conversations with surviving family members... However, there's no build up to any of their deaths and the film just carelessly moves from them being alive to being dead and the film just moves along in this carefree and rather monotone manner. It really does beg the question of 'How do you become emotionally involved in such a dreary mess of a film where it is impossible to connect to anyone or anything?' and the simple truth here is that you can't....
As I've already said, the weak narrative is also a big problem; the old lady's Alzheimer's is there, but is never expanded upon. The technology is there and exists, but with no explanation of how it exists. Marjorie's daughter doesn't want anything to do with her deceased father when she is alive, but is quite happy to spend time with him in the afterlife - this could have been warm if any explanation could be afforded to their afterlife connection.
With Marjorie Prime what you're really left with for 90 odd minutes are a very basic concept that could have worked (even though it seems like a poor combination of Ghost and AI), but ultimately what you're left with here is a load of pretentious philosophising that is apparently supposed to pass off as dialogue and not much else.
To be fair I did like the idea behind the film; i.e technology existing to enable people to bring back a deceased family member and perhaps allow the living person a second chance at rebuilding a life with said deceased person, but the problem here is that a reasonable concept is taken here and tackled in one of the most laborious and dullest manners possible. It's boring, pretentious and rather pointless - avoid.
OK; the first problem I had with this film is the fact that no explanation is given on how the technology works; the start of the film begins with Marjorie engaging with a holographic recreation of her husband, but who created him and how did they create him? This extends further in that there is no real backstory to Marjorie's husband or their relationship - there is one small segment showing Marjorie proposing to her husband (when he was still alive) and I think there were odd occasions where the age gap between Marjorie and her late husband was presented as being an issue, but outside of these things I found no real reason to care about anything that happens; had the film played out more of a touching love story then it may have made the film slightly stronger (sure it would have been a bit sappy and manipulative, but at least it would have been more emotionally involving).
The second problem lies with the rather poor and underdeveloped narrative; OK I've already mentioned the lack of explanation regarding how the latest technology works, but I think what is worse than this is the entire manner in which the film is constructed; for example later in the film it shows other family members being alive and well in one scene then in the next scene they are dead and then they are having conversations with surviving family members... However, there's no build up to any of their deaths and the film just carelessly moves from them being alive to being dead and the film just moves along in this carefree and rather monotone manner. It really does beg the question of 'How do you become emotionally involved in such a dreary mess of a film where it is impossible to connect to anyone or anything?' and the simple truth here is that you can't....
As I've already said, the weak narrative is also a big problem; the old lady's Alzheimer's is there, but is never expanded upon. The technology is there and exists, but with no explanation of how it exists. Marjorie's daughter doesn't want anything to do with her deceased father when she is alive, but is quite happy to spend time with him in the afterlife - this could have been warm if any explanation could be afforded to their afterlife connection.
With Marjorie Prime what you're really left with for 90 odd minutes are a very basic concept that could have worked (even though it seems like a poor combination of Ghost and AI), but ultimately what you're left with here is a load of pretentious philosophising that is apparently supposed to pass off as dialogue and not much else.
To be fair I did like the idea behind the film; i.e technology existing to enable people to bring back a deceased family member and perhaps allow the living person a second chance at rebuilding a life with said deceased person, but the problem here is that a reasonable concept is taken here and tackled in one of the most laborious and dullest manners possible. It's boring, pretentious and rather pointless - avoid.