Quiet Revolution [Review: Robot And Frank]

Frank Langella plays Frank, an elderly man in the very near future starting to struggle to look after himself. His hard working but distant son buys him a robot butler to help him around the house and to look after him, but Frank is a retired cat-burglar and discovers that the robot is perfectly capable of helping him re-start his career.

Robot and Frank is a gentle and funny film about our relationships with each other and with technology. One of Frank's favourite haunts is the library where he goes to flirt with the chief librarian (Susan Sarandon), but things are changing: books are becoming obsolete, the librarian is now accompanied by her own robot helper who she has named "Mr. Darcy" and the library has been bought by a young entrepreneur who wants to turn it into an "experience."

There are some excellent performances particularly from Langella and Sarandon, and this is a touching film, particularly as you gradually realise just how much Frank's memory has been affected. Also despite the fact that the robot in this film is portrayed as non-sentient, it's still very clear that one could become emotionally attached to it and consider it a friend.