Robot and Frank

I looked up yesterday at my AA in-flight movie and saw that they were screening 'Robot & Frank.' I immediately began buttonholing my seatmates: "This is a really good movie." I had the good fortune of catching it during its August 2012 big screen debut and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We sought it out for two reasons. First, my wife and I love Frank Langella. [Pro tip: Check out the vastly underrated Starting Out In The Evening.]

Second, I'd caught Mr. Langella talking most informatively about the film - and about his career on stage and screen - in an interview with Fresh Air's Dave Davies. The best part: when asked why he chose to participate in the film, Langella told a fascinating story about getting sent the script, liking it, but feeling it didn't fully depict the challenges facing a man in his eighth decade. He said that he asked for a meeting with director Jake Schreier and writer Christopher D. Ford (both 30-ish) so he could tell them "what [my seventies] feels like." Armed with that knowledge, they retooled the script to his liking and he took the role.

The supporting casting is as good as Langella. I like James Marsden in everything he does. He and Liv Tyler make a very believable brother-sister pair. They could be real-life siblings...and imagining them as the offspring of Langella isn't a stretch either. I can't delve any further into their on-screen parentage without ruining the movie's last-reel reveal. It's well worth 89 minutes of your day spending time with this family.

One final word: seen, but not heard, is Peter Sarsgaard, voice of Langella's servant/robot. He's not just reading words: he inhabits that robot. It's a brilliant vocal performance.

I saw the movie "Robot & Frank" in the theatre here in Cincinnati in early September. It's taken quite a long time for the DVD release to get listed on Amazon, but here we are finally.

"Robot & Frank" (2012 release, 89 min.) brings the story, set in upstate NY "in the near future" of Frank (played by Frank Langella) who is an ex-con (a "cat burglar" as Frank puts it) in the latter stage of his life when his memory fails him at times. Living alone has become a challenge and one day Frank's son buys him a robot who can be a do-it-all butler for Frank. Then a strange thing happens: after initially resisting the robot as much as possible, Frank discovers he actually likes the robot's help and, even more important, its companionship. Soon thereafter, Frank concots a plan to commit one last heist, with the help of the robot. At that point we are not even half-way into the movie, and to reveal more would certainly ruin your viewing experience. You'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Several comments: (i) the movie is a strange mix of a bitter-sweet family drama, character study, buddy movie, and comedy (of course not all at the same time), but the movie finds its own pace and somehow it all works; as a result, and knowing the general premise of the movie going in, I couldn't wait to see what would happen and how it would all end; (ii) speaking of the end of the movie, it came as quite the surprise, and certainly too abrupt for my liking; (iii) this is another great, great performance from Frank Langella, who seems to be getting better with age; (iv) on the contrary, most of the supporting cast, in particular Liv Tayler, felt forced, the one exception being Susan Sarandon as the local librarian. If you are in the mood for something a bit deeper and more personal and human than the latest Avengers or Dark Knight Rises, I would recommend this in a heartbeat. In fact, I'd classify this as just "another little movie that could". The movie "Robot & Frank" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Look up the background of writer Christopher D. Ford and director Jake Schreier and be surprised that in many ways this beautifully sculpted little film is a first serious outing. The story is so well crafted, the direction so beautifully underplayed that this becomes an instant cinematic masterwork - albeit of the quiet, soulful, ruminative nature. The fact that it just happens to be populated with a brilliant cast who care more about being immersed in their characters than in the spotlight adds to the fact that this is a film everyone should experience.

The place is upstate New York, the time is in the near future. Frank (Frank Langella, utterly luminous in this role) is a retired, independent but brain aging (read encroaching dementia) thief/catburglar living alone in a cluttered little house while his successful son, Hunter (James Marsden), tries to care for him from afar (it is a 10 hour journey for Hunter to look in on his father every week). Hunter finally gets Frank a robot caretaker - an interference Frank loathes. Frank also has world traveling and anti-robot daughter Madison (Liv Tyler) who moves in when she discovers that a robot is running her father's life. Frank's only area of peace is the little public library run by a compassionate librarian Jennifer (Sarah Sarandon) who understands Frank's growing senility and his robot caretaker as she is facing the closure of her `book haven' by the new Internet advanced cold company headed by Jake (Jeremy Strong). Frank may not be able to communicate well with his blood family, but he grows into a relationship with his robot (voiced to perfection by Peter Sarsgaard) and soon confides his past as a jewel thief who only stole to get back at crooked insurance companies. Frank soon learns that his robot comrade is useful as a burglary aide. As Frank tries to restart his old profession, the uncomfortable realities of a changing world and his worsening dementia threaten to take beyond what any reboot can do for him. The plot is gently complex and how the film plays out is the beauty of seeing the film firsthand. Suffice it to say this is a film about the variations of family and how plausibly aging and caregiving may be changed in the next few years, with the influx of technology and the possibilities for in-home care with robots.

The cast is strong (including a minor role by Jeremy Sisto), but the performances by Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon are especially rare and transcendent. This little unknown film is the kind of parable that allows us to see life as it is and could be in an intelligent and thoughtful way. Grady Harp, February 13