Sarasota Film Festival: Opening Night

     It's finally here, the 14th annual Sarasota Film Festival! Last night kicked everything off with the Opening Night Film: Robot and Frank. It was screened at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and among the huge turnout (what appeared to be in the high hundreds) were Robot and Frank's star and director Frank Lagella and Jake Shreier, respectively. Langella was charismatic and held a nice rapport with his director as they interacted during the post-film Q & A. I'm looking forward to the conversation David Edelstein will be hosting with Langella this afternoon. But onto my thoughts of the film itself...

Robot and Frank * * *

     Frank Langella plays an aging and retired cat-burglar who is slowly starting to feel the effects of senility. Even playing the epitome of a"grumpy old man", Langella brings his inherent air of distinguishment to the colorful character. Set in the "near future", Frank's adult son (with whom he has a strained relationship) gets him a home-healthcare robot to take care of him since he can't always be there. After Frank gets over his initial disdain for the robot, moments of surprising humor and depth begin to occur between them -ranging from the robot's unexpected announcement that it's time for Franks enema, to their conversation about how the robot is just a shell filled with programming whereas Frank is filled with actual thoughts and intellect. But its when Frank discovers that the robot could help him start stealing things again that the plot really gets moving.

     The music for this film is perfect, filled with what sounds like the clicks of a computer keyboard and the beeps of a robot (what I imagine is actually a xylophone), it conveys a sense of technology and the future. And just the right amount of futuristic visuals accompany the music to add to the films atmosphere. A sorrowful undercurrent is everpresent throughout the score though, giving it the ideal tone for the film. Langella, as always, is superb. This film easily could have veered into hokey comedy territory or into the realm of manipulative sentimentality and its Langella's tight-rope-act of a performance that keeps the whole film centered. For his first feature-length film, director Jake Shreier has made a solid movie. Towards the film's end, Frank has to decide whether to erase the robot's memory to destroy any evidence that he ever stole anything. If he does, the robot will just be an empty shell; is that what Frank will become as he continues to lose his cognitive functions and memories? Using the art of film to ask those kinds of questions is what movie-making is all about, I'm looking forward to Shreier's sophomore effort.

     As mentioned above, today I'll be seeing a full interview with Frank Langella and then afterwards I'll see Oslo, August 31st and then Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding.

And as this year's festival tagline says, I hope to "see things differently"!