Robot and Frank sounds like a terrible movie. Set in the ?near future? about an old man living a lone in upstate New York along the Hudson River whose son buys him a robot that becomes his companion, Jake Schreier?s film has all the ingredients of a sappy, made-for Lifetime torture-bore. But that?s Robot and Frank?s great trick, the way it lowers your expectations before serving up a sensitive and thoughtful sci-fi parable about life and age, friendship and human purpose.
Frank Langella plays Frank, which should be your first indication that there is something worth looking for in this movie. He is slowly succumbing to dementia, half-living in the past, when his son, who lives hours away, purchases the robot for him as a surrogate helper and companion. At first Frank is stubbornly resistant to the idea, but then he begins to develop a rapport with the programmable home assistant. Sure it is convenient to have his house cleaned and food prepared by the machine, but what really sets off the relationship is Frank discovering that the robot has no legal or moral sensibility programmed into him. This is perks up Frank because the old guy used to be a master cat burglar ? what? ? and now he has the perfect accomplice. It a completely unforeseeable twist, the two set about planning heists.
As the human and humanoid begin to develop their partnership, Frank?s friends and family become concerned about his health, even though Frank hasn?t felt this good in years. Here we begin to recognize the familiar patterns of familial behavior, the way in which the young try to put-away ? or program ? the lives of the inconveniently elderly when they haven?t the time or the patience to devote themselves to cultivating dignifying relationships. Frank finds that kind of companionship, in an ironic and socially scathing twist, in his robot. It?s clever, and the film?s friendly tone is perfectly balanced, without leaning on the schmaltz. In doing so, Robert and Frank raises questions about purpose and life?s meaning, delivering a story about memory and aging that plays as a septuagenarian?s overdue and justified revolt of spirit.
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