Robot and Frank

I hadn't heard of Robot and Frank until Amazon added it to my Recommendations a few days ago. I'm a sucker for robots when they're done well, and after watching the trailer (below) I knew I'd have to watch the film.

I was a little bit blown away. If you have Amazon Prime or Netflix, it's available on both. The humor is often subtle and restrained, but there were a few moments where I laughed out loud. The sappiness implied in the final seconds of the trailer is there - but you get 100% of that sappiness in the final seconds of the trailer. That's all there is. Also, toward the end, this movie will rear back and punch you full in the gut.

Robot and Frank is set in the "near future," a hazily indeterminate time of personal robots and viewscreens. Frank Weld (Frank Langella in one of his better roles) is a retired jewel thief living alone; divorced for 30 years and effectively abandoned by his children - James Marsden and Liv Tyler - his life is bleak and dismal. He's been having trouble with his memory.

The film plays with that idea quite a bit. At first, I wasn't entirely convinced the old codger wasn't faking it. He keeps saying he's going to eat at "Harry's" - a small town eatery that's been closed for years, replaced by some fancypants curio store that he habitually shoplifts from in his "confusion." At one point the owner of the store remarks that she's told him again and again to stay away, and next time she sees him she'll call the cops. I wondered, at that point, whether or not Frank's memory-troubles were genuine or an affectation.

Eventually, you'll see that Frank's memory is indeed severely deteriorated. In fact, it's much worse than the film ever lets on until near the end. Here comes that punch in the guts I mentioned, and I certainly won't spoil it here. I'll only say my jaw fell slowly open, my eyes got wide, and my heart ached just a little bit.

James Marsden is Frank's son Hunter, who drives up once a week (apparently a five hour drive) to check on the old man and make sure he hasn't died or something. Hunter clearly resents the time away from his own kids and the inconvenience of caring for his ailing father. Considering that same father spent a good 16 years in prison over two different stretches, you can understand Hunter's resentment.

On the other hand, the movie never actually establishes when Frank was in prison. It may even have been after his children were grown. There's even a chance that Hunter's resentment stems from Frank never teaching him any thief-skills. For whatever reason, both of Frank's children have abandoned him to some degree, even though they both frequently call him on the viewscreen - an extremely subtle comment on the complete artificiality of our technological "connectivity."

At any rate, Hunter hates having to take care of the old man. That's why he brings along the robot on his latest visit. The robot, who never gets a name, is essentially a home-care medical device programmed to help Frank. The robot (perfectly voiced by Peter Sarsgaard, who manages to evoke HAL-9000 just enough) can clean the house, cook a nutritious meal, and put Frank on a firm schedule including physical activity that will aide his cognition and memory. "You need a project, Frank," says the robot.

Frank is extremely resistant at first: "That thing's going to murder me in my sleep," he tells Hunter. He bristles at the robot's replacing his sugary breakfast cereal with grapefruit and flatly refuses to participate in the robot's "project:" creating a vegetable garden in the back yard.

Liv Tyler is Frank's absent daughter Madison, first seen on the flatscreen in his living room on a series of video calls from Turkmenistan. Tyler gives an excellent performance as the hippyish daughter who travels the world trying to help the underprivileged. Turkmenistan is beautiful, she tells Frank.

Beautiful and tragic. Madison is also firmly anti-robot and apparently a member of the barely mentioned "Human Movement." When she learns about Frank's robot, she comes home to shut it down and take care of her father herself - while, of course, living in his house and pursuing her own goals. Her self-centered "selflessness" is never harped on, never shoved down your throat - but it is there. Like most of the movie, it's a subtle thing that you may miss entirely. If so, the movie doesn't really suffer for it.

The film's plot revolves mainly around Frank's efforts to teach the robot useful skills such as lock-picking and planning the perfect burglary. He stumbles on the idea when the robot unknowingly shoplifts on his behalf, and he discovers that while the robot knows the definition of words like "steal" and "rob," his programming does not incorporate any adherence to state and federal law - Frank's health is the robots highest priority anyway, and Frank needs a project.

After a mostly successful dry run, the robot tries to put its foot down but Frank talks it into letting him plan a more ambitious heist. The robot concedes that the planning stages seem to be aiding Frank's cognition, and agrees that if Frank can come up with a suitably low-risk plan for the robbery they can go through with it.

The film's last act turns on memory: Frank's and the robot's. Even as we learn just how severe Frank's memory loss has become, the robot's holographic memory array becomes central to the police investigation of the robbery. The only way Frank can ensure his continued freedom is to completely erase the robot's memory. This juxtaposition, much like Liv Tyler's entire character, is understated and subtle - but again, it's right there if you're paying any attention at all.

Robot and Frank, as far as I'm concerned, only misses a single trick. Frank's chosen "mark" for his daring heist is an obnoxious future-hipster named Jake who is (in my opinion) almost certainly some kind of criminal. Frank even points this out, at one point, to local librarian and love-interest Susan Sarandon. He suggests Jake's plans for the future of the library are some kind of smoke-screen for a major con job. Although there's nothing in the film to really back up the theory, neither is there any evidence against it. An entire new dimension could have been added to the story by pursuing the idea just a little bit further - but, once again, subtlety wins out. Maybe Jake is a con-man, maybe not. Maybe Madison is a self-centered idiot, maybe not. Maybe the robot is, in a sense, alive and Frank's best friend ... maybe not.

Either way, Robot and Frank plays out as a subtle, largely understated comedy that threatens to break your heart without ever becoming sappy or contrived. It's about helpful robot friends, broken families, and cat-burglary. And as for the stolen jewels? They're buried in the robot's garden, under the tomatoes.