A gentle story that is no less profound for being so. Michael Almereyda directs and adapts Jordan Harrison’s play about memory — and also, what it means to be a person. Put less abstractly: various members of a wealthy, melancholy family spend time chatting with holographic computer simulations of deceased loved ones. (“It’s better than watching TV,” shrugs one of them in defense of the notion.) A lot of time is spent teaching these “primes” how to be more like the people they’ve replaced, sometimes by recalling stories, sometimes by simple description. (“You liked confrontation more than most people; you were good at it.”) The primes are programmed to be interested, and while there are things they can’t do, there are also things they can. (It’s quite a thing to tell someone how they are and have them simply accept it.). Lois Smith, Jon Hamm, Tim Robbins, and Geena Davis provide acting and dialogue that are never less than compelling, which is impressive and also essential, considering the relative lack of drama and the stagey lack of action. (2017) — Matthew Lickona
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