ROBOT & FRANK [2012]

WHEN THE MACHINES REBEL, THEY WON'T BRING US COFFEE

2012, USA
Jake Schreier
9 // 10



Could you actually program morality into a robot? Should you actually program morality into a robot? Do cat burglars use a litter tray? There's only one way to find out!

I'll be frank (see what I did there, wink wink?), Robot & Frank is the kind of a film I already like before I even see it. By that I mean a low budget, slightly quirky, at least a bit innovative, preferably sci-fi. When, on top of that, you hear that some really serious acting talent backed the concept with their performances (we have Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon in this case), you can just read all the news and then sit back, and await the release knowing full well that the disappointment is something reserved for the blockbusters. And the recipe is simple. Films like that tend to be made by people who are passionate and determined to deliver their vision in the shape and form exactly as the one they intended. If they ever try to please the crowd, it is only a specific crowd and they do it by making their art cleaver, not spoon fed, chewed and already digested. Which does not mean that Robot & Frank is difficult, challenging or mind warping. After all, despite of what some people might think, 'smart' does not necessarily have to mean 'incomprehensible'.

What it delivers by bucket-loads though is warmth, emotional complexity and a few little questions that need to be answered afterwards, as a homework exercise. Honestly, what else can you want?

No, wait, there's more to it, actually. Of course, there is. There's acting, for example. Which is superb. I mean, Frank Langella, a man whose career in its larger part was built on supporting roles, here is put in the spotlight and simply owns the whole picture. I don't want to sound like I'm overdoing it, but come on, he is superb. Within a single character he's uncompromising as a former criminal, awkward and and cold as a father, clumsily charming in his romanticism and simply frail, when affected by dementia. As much amusing, as he is moving. Which leads to another reason why we all should love films like this one. They let their actors shine. The story, the sets the unobtrusiveness of the surroundings do nothing more, than they're supposed to do: they are a backdrop. The fantastic duo of Langella and Sarandon, the twisty-knobbly relations between a father and his children, everything is as prominent, as it would be in the real life, as we would expect to see around us, near future or not. The technology aspect is also implemented brilliantly. Schreier understands very well that lavishness is the actual doom of sci-fi. And while films like I Robot, Fifth Element or Star Trek may be hugely enjoyable and entertaining, they are, in fact, closer to a technological fantasy (where unexplainable inventions take the role of magic) then a real science fiction. The real science fiction belongs to people who recognise that in the future life will look just like today. Only a little bit different. This is exactly the approach that Robot & Frank takes. The robots will most likely be still physically limited, the cars of today will still be present on the streets (as we still see cars from the 80s driving around today) and we won't be making phone calls by the means of talking to our watches. Samsung and Apple may think different even today as I write these words, but technical ability is one thing, while convenience, sometimes, something very different altogether. 

Oh, and one more thing. There's another element here that shows you a difference between a good sci-fi and a sci-fi flavoured entertainment. It's something that Robot & Frank and Moon have in common. The common sense realisation that unless we program them that way ourselves, the robots of the future will have absolutely no reason to turn on us. Which, in the context of the cinema so far, starting as early as Metropolis, makes for a very refreshing trend. Hope it'll continue.