Movie Reviews

Robot and Frank

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Written by Jonathan Jacobs

Frank is an elderly man (and former jewel thief) losing his mental faculties. With age so goes the mind. His daughter Madison is deeply concerned about him though she is stationed abroad. Routinely Frank visits the local library where he pines after the luxurious librarian Jennifer. Jennifer is busy helping transform the library into a virtual terminal if you will. Robot and Frank takes place "in the near future" which is a perfect tagline for the mixture of technology and tradition presented by Direct Jake Shreier and writer Christopher Ford. All of the books and novels and encyclopedias are scheduled to be scanned and converted into E-Books and then recycled. This is Jules Verne's worst nightmare come true, and Frank's as well.

The most frequent houseguest Frank entertains is his son Hunter. Hunter is a gentle son in the midst of the agony of caring for his reclusive and deteriorating father while working and raising a family of his own. In order to compel his father to stop eating insalubriously and to exercise and leave the house on his own accord, Hunter purchases him a health aid robot (Peter Sarsgaard). This is no mundane robot, it is a state of the art "appliance" designed to care for his patient and to have a modicum of self-thought or pathos. Though Frank comically rejects the very thought of embracing technology it takes only a mere moment in time for him to come to rely on his newfound friend. The robot is sweet, caring and concerned. One is left to wonder if that is its unique programming or is Frank's curmudgeonliness causes this random bout of inspiration.

Robot and Frank is about the antagonism between the old and the new, between technology and a simpler way of life and between conventional thinking and change. Moreover, it is about the challenge of overcoming the familial pain caused by infirmity and memory loss. It seems that Robot and Frank is about humanity and the cycle of life evidenced by a robot! Now how's that for brilliant irony? Frankly, Frank Langella and James Marsden have a father-son chemistry that feels raw and real. Liv Tyler is always welcome on my big screen and Susan Sarandon does nothing but add substance and gravitas to pictures. Perhaps the unsung hero is the voice of the clunky misfit of a robot Peter Sarsgaard. His light and mollifying voice is often just the right amount of tender and stern at the same time. Bravo Palm Beach International Film Festival 2012 for bringing in the right talent to spice up the joint. Count Screen Spotlight  in the weekend's festivities!

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