Two and a half years ago, the American actor Samuel L. Jackson, who needs no further introduction, was featured in an Alzheimer Research UK campaign.

In a promotional video, he stood next to a fruit tree that, with some lighting effects, began to transform into a brain, holding a fruit: "The damage caused by Alzheimer's disease can result in a brain weighing 140 grams less than a healthy one .

That's about the weight of an orange.”

"Almost my whole life surrounded by Alzheimer's"

On the nonprofit's website, Jackson added, "I've been surrounded by Alzheimer's most of my life." His grandfather, his mother, her mother, her brother, her sister - they all had dementia.

An aunt on my father's side was affected.

It must have been awful.

“My grandfather was my best friend when I was a child.

When I saw that he no longer recognized me, it broke my heart.”

You don't have to be familiar with this appearance when the six-part mini-series "The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray" is now starting at Apple.

However, the close personal connection to the subject of dementia explains why Samuel L. Jackson is so impressive in the role of an Alzheimer's patient.

The blank stare, the sluggish gait, the sudden fear and the horror at oneself written deep in the face: all this seems real.

The story, based on a 2010 novel by Walter Mosley, centers on a lonely old man, a barely-of-age girl, a murder and what has been described as a "diabolical" pact with a researcher.

The old man's name is Ptolemy Grey.

He lives in a poor area of ​​Atlanta, and the fact that he survives in his den of household goods and dirt is really only thanks to his nephew Reggie (Omar Benson Miller), who occasionally visits his uncle or takes him to the doctor.

There it turns out that Grey's dementia is progressing rapidly.

The friendly old man will soon hardly be able to live alone.

A moment later Reggie is gone.

He was shot dead in the street by a stranger - but Gray, who is increasingly lost in fragmented thoughts and suffering from a hail of flashbacks, only finds out at Reggie's funeral.

He collapses on the coffin, forgets it again and is cared for by Robyn (Dominique Fishback), a girl from a humble background.

"The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey" seems to be a touching play that works with the same recipe for success as Dieter Hallervorden's tragic comedy "Honig im Kopf": young and old, heartwarmingly united.

Hope for a new drug

But the story about pretty best friends Robyn and Gray is also a crime thriller with a touch of science fiction.

The enlightened researcher Dr.

Rubin (Walton Goggins) makes an appearance.

His team has developed an active substance that can at least temporarily restore the brains of Alzheimer's patients, and now he is looking for volunteers who can test the immature product without fear of the severe side effects and accelerated physical deterioration afterwards.

Ptolemy Gray agrees.

One injection later he can think clearly, after a second he can remember almost everything that has ever happened to him - the good as well as the bad.

You can find out what traumatic experiences his childhood in Mississippi was associated with, how he met his idolatrous wife Sensia (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) in the seventies.

Last but not least, Gray remembers who helped him after his illness and who didn't.

And with his new, temporary super memory power, he now decides to look for Reggie's killer.

He thinks he owes that to his nephew.

There may only be a limited amount of tension in this constructed crime side story, but nobody expects that either.

Like the other good dementia films of recent years, such as "Still Alice" with Julianne Moore or "The Father" with Anthony Hopkins, "The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey" confronts one's own fears in a thoughtful and relentless manner, sometimes in a somewhat fairytale-like manner – those before a personal illness and those before a family member became ill.

It's a challenge, but also a win.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray

runs on Apple TV+.