Robot & Frank
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Robot & Frank |
| Original title | Robot & Frank |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2012 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 0 JMK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jake Schreier |
| script | Christopher D. Ford |
| production |
Lance Acord Jackie Kelman Bisbee Sam Bisbee Galt Niederhoffer |
| music | Francis and the Lights |
| camera | Matthew J. Lloyd |
| cut | Jacob Craycroft |
| occupation | |
| |
Robot & Frank (alternative title: Robot & Frank - Two Thieving Accomplices ) is an American indie film from 2012 . The tragic comedy is set "in the near future" and is about the friendship between Frank, an aging jewel thief, who is slightly demented and his care robot, Robot. The film premiered on January 20, 2012 at the Sundance Film Festival . The theatrical release in the United States was on August 17, 2012, the German theatrical release on October 25, 2012.
action
Frank used to be one of the most famous jewel thieves and facade climbers in the USA. Now he's aged and turned into a bumbling loner. He has not stolen jewels for a long time, but only steals decorative soaps in a shop. He is also the only remaining customer who visits the community library and looks forward to meeting the librarian Jennifer. However, the future has changed everything there too, Jennifer is already supported by a library robot named Mr. Darcy, all books are to be digitized and the library is to be converted into a cultural center due to the declining interest in print media .
The film is set “in a near future”, as is shown at the beginning, which looks astonishingly similar to the present. However, there are already humanoid robots of considerable intelligence that are used in all places. Frank's children believe that their father can no longer cope with his life alone and are looking for an alternative. One day, therefore, his son Hunter brings his father the VGC-60L care robot , which upsets Frank's everyday life.
After an initial rejection, Frank soon realizes that Robot is programmed to increase Frank's lust for life and well-being. He communicates in natural language and makes suggestions to Frank to stimulate physical activity. Instead of the gardening work suggested by Robot, however, Frank is more interested in activities beyond legality. The viewer is confronted with the ethical question of whether a robot should consistently orientate itself towards the well-being of the person assigned to it or towards overriding legal rules. In the end, Robot assists in the preparation of the next raid: To win the affection of the librarian Jennifer, the two steal the most valuable book in the library, a historical edition of Cervantes Don Quixote . Frank's daughter Madison, who is currently on a philanthropic trip through Turkmenistan , finds Robot's presence ethically reprehensible and urges its abolition. However, Frank insists on his robot. Together with him he steals the jewels of the wealthy library manager Jake.
The police are now suspecting Frank. The evidence of his deed is in the memory, the memory of the robot. The only possibility - which Robot also suggests quite rationally - is to switch off the robot and delete its memory. Frank refuses, because "He is my friend" he says; you can't just switch off a friend. Now it comes to the chase, after which Frank comes to a nursing home. There human care workers are considered to be outdated and each occupant is assigned a personal robot. In the end, it turns out that the librarian is Jennifer Frank's wife, whom he has been divorced for 30 years and whom the demented person has no longer recognized.
backgrounds
Christopher D. Ford began devising the original story for the film in 2002. He and Jake Schreier were interested in the rapid development of robot technology and its effects on everyday life for ordinary people. Schreier is of the opinion that technology is neither good nor bad, but it does change the way we relate to one another, and this development can no longer be stopped.
The robot VGC-60L was created by Alterian , a Los Angeles company that designs the costumes for the French house formation Daft Punk . It bears a striking resemblance to the ASIMO robot developed by Honda . The actress Rachael Ma acted inside him. It seems unlikely that future humanoid robots will follow this design concept. The decision in favor of the robot design has dramaturgical reasons, as director Jake Schreier explains: “The film thrives heavily on the human ability to transfer emotions onto objects. [...] When designing the robot, we assumed that less is more. "
Several vehicles appear in the film in the form of product placements . The vehicle that Frank meets on the street at the beginning of the film is the Tango electric car from Commuter Cars. The futuristic smartphones and tablets in the film were designed by Justin Ouellette on Tumblr .
In the end credits of the film, excerpts from research videos are shown, for example the Komuro hand from the University of Tokyo and the ARMAR III robot from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Awards
Jake Schreier's and Christopher D. Ford's first feature film received critical acclaim for script, production, and cast. In 2012 he won the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Alfred P. Sloan Prize for outstanding science and technology films at the Sundance Film Festival together with Valley of Saints - A Valley in Kashmir by Musa Syeed .
Reviews
“An amusing mixture of science fiction , heist and buddy movies that creates a credible scenario of a not too distant future. With subtle humor and a confident main actor, the film tells of an unusual friendship and focuses on human weaknesses and strengths. "
“Frank Langella [does] a fabulous one-man show as a Don Quixote in the fight against aging. It bears mischievous irony when a refusal of the future, on whom a care robot is imposed against his bitter resistance, finds his only friend in it - and loses again. "
“The line between man and machine has probably never been drawn as carefully as in this film. In Western cinema, the robot figure usually outshines the human characters, but here people and machines meet at eye level. "
“Jake Schreier's idiosyncratic debut film 'Robot & Frank' about an old man suffering from memory loss takes up these discussions about the human aspect of humans with airy irony and a mild twist compared to the serious theses of the eighties and leaves it - in an entertaining script by Christopher D. Ford - the human memory once again a fight against the machine storage capacity, which in the end is happily lost. "
“Frank Langella plays Frank as an intelligent, introverted man of action who realizes the extent of his mental decline in some intensely played key scenes. [...] Schreier remains in his melancholy mood. "
literature
- Hans-Arthur Marsiske: In a near future. With “Robot & Frank” an extraordinary robot film is coming to the cinemas. In: c't - Magazine for Computertechnik , Issue 22 of October 8, 2012, pp. 76-77, ISSN 0724-8679
Web links
- Robot & Frank in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official website for the film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Robot & Frank . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2012 (PDF; test number: 135 123 K).
- ↑ Age rating for Robot & Frank . Youth Media Commission .
- ^ A b c Jenna Wortham: From the Future, a Subtle Spark of Recognition. In “Robot & Frank” Technology of the Not-So-Distant Future on Display . In: The New York Times , August 10, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
- ↑ Behind the Robots in “Robot & Frank” . In: The New York Times . August 17, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
- ↑ Rachael Ma in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ a b c c't - magazine for computer technology , issue 22/2012, p. 76 f.
- ↑ 2012 Sundance Film Festival Announces Awards . Sundance Film Festival. January 28, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
- ^ Robot & Frank. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Kino.de: Robot & Frank.
- ↑ Alexandra Stäheli: The jewel thief and the health robot. Jake Schreier's charming independent film “Robot & Frank” . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 25, 2012.
- ↑ Wilfried Hippen: Can machines lie? . In: the daily newspaper , October 25, 2012.