Review of Robot and Frank at Sundance 2012.
Frank Langella gives an amazing performance as a senior who bonds with his robot in Robot and Frank.
A subtle sci-fi drama set in a world where robots are a natural part of our surroundings turns out to be one of the Sundance Film Festival’s most enjoyable surprises thanks in large part to a wonderful performance from veteran actor Frank Langella and impressive work by first-time feature director Jake Schreier and screenwriter Christopher D. Ford. Making its world debut in the Premieres section of Sundance Film Festival and acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide and Samuel Goldwyn Films for distribution, Robot and Frank claims a sci-fi premise with its buddy tale of a man and his robot but its storytelling is humanistic and deeply personal. Its futuristic, fantasy elements are subtle, which helps the movie become one of the warmest sci-fi dramas in recent memory.
Set in the near future Frank (Frank Langella) is a retired jewel thief content with his solitary life in a small upstate New York town but his grown son (James Marsden) is concerned about his mental health and buys him a caretaker robot (voice of Peter Sarsgaard) to watch over him. Frank hates the idea until he realizes that the robot can help with one last heist.
Susan Sarandon delivers one of the film’s most enjoyable surprises as the small town librarian who accepts Frank’s endless flirting with humor.
Marsden complements Langella well as the dutiful son who buys the robot partly so he won’t have to check up so often on his 70-year-old father.
Liv Tyler brings a welcome spark as Frank’s globetrotting daughter who objects against the robot on ethical grounds. Jeremy Sisto provides a comical punch as a local cop convinced that Frank is behind a recent burglary.
Standing tall at the center of the movie is Langella who gives an amazing performance that borders between intelligence, sweetness and gentle comedy.
Peter Sarsgaard makes great use of his calm voice as the dutiful Robot but the storytelling revolves around Langella who gives the near-future fantasy a believably, human touch.
Langellaa gives his best screen performance since Starting Out in the Evening, which is doubly impressive when you consider that most of his scenes are opposite an expression-less Robot clad in a shiny white shell.
Jake Schreier makes his feature-film directing debut with Robot and Frank but the movie has the visual look and dramatic heft of an accomplished veteran.
Cameraman Matthew J. Lloyd makes great use of the film’s upstate New York setting and brings a sad sense of loneliness to Frank’s story.
Robot and Frank is also the first produced screenplay by writer C.D. Ford (the graphic novel Stickman Odyssey) and his subtle fantasy writing is the best thing about the movie.
There are plenty of recent robot dramas. Steven Spielberg’s A.I. and Bicentennial Man, based on an Isaac Asimov novel, come quickly to mind but Robot and Frank outdistances them all. The lesson of Robot and Frank is that a movie’s futuristic robot is only as good as the man alongside it. Thankfully, Robot and Frank has Frank Langella to make its sci-fi drama come alive.
Director: Jake Schreier
Screenwriter: Christopher D. Ford
Cast: Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Peter Sarsgaard, Jeremy Sisto and Jeremy Strong
Producers: Park Pictures
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Cinematographer: Matthew J. Lloyd
Editor: Jacob Craycroft
Music: Francis and the Lights
Running Time: 89 minutes