Robot and Frank

[Lauren]

Today's movie is Robot and Frank, directed by Jake Schreier and starring Frank Langella, Peter Sarsgaard, Liv Tyler, James Marsden and Susan Sarandon.

The movie is about Frank, a retired thief with a failing memory whose son buys a domestic robot to take care of him. Frank hates the Robot until he realises it can help him commit robberies, and the robot goes from being a mechanical servant to a meaningful companion.

For more info, here is the movie's IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1990314/

For those who want to watch it with me, I'll be starting at 4pm, SA time.

[Lauren]

Starting now...

[Lauren]

I love the Robot's little burglary cloak :)

[Lu]

Hahaha yea his cloak was so funny. And I love the: "Warning, don't molest me"

[Lauren]

That was a really nice movie. Sci fi film tends focus on action so it's great to see one that's about human relationships instead. I love it when Frank tells Madison that the robot is his friend, and I also find it a bit disturbing that the robot doesn't consider itself to be a person. That's an interesting issue though, since Frank obviously comes to think of the robot as not just a person but his best friend.

(view spoiler)[What do you think suddenly makes Frank change his mind about wiping its memory? One moment he's trying to escape and then when the robot mentions his next job he agrees to wipe its memory to protect himself. Does he think, perhaps that they could star over? I wasn't quite happy with the ending - I don't see why the robot couldn't have stayed to be Frank's helper in the nursing home. (hide spoiler)]

[Lu]

Yea I also found that interesting and a little unnerving when the robot kept saying things like that.

(view spoiler)[Maybe it was part of his althzimers(sp)? That he couldn't quite remember why he said no in the first place? Yea I also wished he stayed! (hide spoiler)]

Liv Tyler's character really irritated me!

[Crusader]

This sounds like my kind of movie. Will see if I can get a copy somewhere.

You guys might like the Blinky short film. Same concept taken to a very different direction -

[Lu]

OMG Crusader! That video... omg

[Crusader]

Lu (Sugar & Snark) wrote: "OMG Crusader! That video... omg"

It will haunt your dreams... No problem!

[Lauren]

Waiting patiently for the video to load. Might be able to watch it in an hour or so...

[Lauren]

Lu (Sugar & Snark) wrote: "Liv Tyler's character really irritated me!"

Well, she came around. She's sort of a benign version of the liberal hipster that Jake is, and while he's intent on some kind of hyperreal future she's romanticising the past (like with that Turkmenistan stuff: "it's so beautiful, but so sad, but so beautiful")

(view spoiler)[I don't think he forgot why he he didn't want to switch the reboot the robot. It seemed more like the robot's words grounded him in that moment, and he became more sensible. A moment before he'd suggested climbing out the window with a rope made of bedsheets! (hide spoiler)]

[Lu]

(view spoiler)[Yea that could also be it. I wanted an ending where they continued their robberies and where the robot helped him with his memory. And I don't think he should have left it to his children! (hide spoiler)]

[Lauren]

Lol, that would be weird. It wouldn't work though. (view spoiler)[Frank's mind clearly isn't up to the task. Like in the library robbery he leaves his reading glasses on the table, he forgets where is and talks too loudly, and then turns to the robot and asks why he's wearing a space helmet. Once he comes to terms with his dementia I don't think he'd want to keep stealing anyway.

Just had a thought - maybe when the robot speaks about Frank planning his next job, Frank realises that he has to let go of this aspect of his life, face up to his dementia and stop hurting his family. And that's why he reboots the robot.

Do you mean leaving the jewels to his children? Why not? There's nothing he can do with them, really, except maybe buy another robot. And he can't sell them yet anyway; it'd be too easy to trace so soon after the robbery. (hide spoiler)]

[Lu]

(view spoiler)[I think you are right. He must have realized what he was doing and then rebooted the robot.

I just didn't particularly like his children you see. (hide spoiler)]

[Lauren]

Why didn't you like his children?

[Lauren]

Crusader wrote: "This sounds like my kind of movie. Will see if I can get a copy somewhere.

You guys might like the Blinky short film. Same concept taken to a very different direction -"

Blinky: (view spoiler)[That brat was asking for it. But yeah, fuck, that last shot is CREEPY. (hide spoiler)]

[Lu]

I donno the one just whined and the other one was only there because she felt guilty/didn't want a robot looking after her father.

Blinky: (view spoiler)[I recycled him... that omg (hide spoiler)]

[Crusader]

Blinky (view spoiler)[He totally deserved it! I loved the "Do you like the meatballs?" line. (hide spoiler)]

[Lauren]

Lu (Sugar & Snark) wrote: "I donno the one just whined and the other one was only there because she felt guilty/didn't want a robot looking after her father."

Well Hunter is understandably upset - he takes a 10-hour drive up there every week to check on his father, who refuses to acknowledge his problem and doesn't appreciate what Hunter does. In the meantime, Hunter loses out on the time he'd like to spend with his children. On top of that, there's clearly some tension between them because of Frank's absences when Hunter and Madison were kids.

Madison does feel guilty, but only because she cares about her father. She annoys me too, but she's also much more patient than Hunter (then again she doesn't have kids). And she flew all the way from Turkmenistan and offered to stay as long as needed.

[Lauren]

Lu (Sugar & Snark) wrote: "I donno the one just whined and the other one was only there because she felt guilty/didn't want a robot looking after her father."

Well Hunter is understandably upset - he takes a 10-hour drive up there every week to check on his father, who refuses to acknowledge his problem and doesn't appreciate what Hunter does. In the meantime, Hunter loses out on the time he'd like to spend with his children. On top of that, there's clearly some tension between them because of Frank's absences when Hunter and Madison were kids.

Madison does feel guilty, but only because she cares about her father. She annoys me too, but she's also much more patient than Hunter (then again she doesn't have kids). And she flew all the way from Turkmenistan and offered to stay as long as needed.

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Lauren wrote: "Just had a thought - maybe when the robot speaks about Frank planning his next job, Frank realises that he has to let go of this aspect of his life, face up to his dementia and stop hurting his family. And that's why he reboots the robot."

I agree that is how I saw the ending but I felt so sorry for Frank when he had to eventually wipe the robots memory. Not only was he losing a friend and his last threads of independence but it was such a terrible parallel to what was happening to his own failing memory.
But in all honesty this movie really didn't grab my attention overly much :)

P.S Sorry I'm a very late comer!