Robot Dreams | Dir: Pablo Berger | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Since it made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year the animated film Robot Dreams has been getting rave reviews, and their completely deserved.
This delightful film is an emotional but simple story companionship, battling loneliness and making your journey through life. Created by Spanish director Pablo Berger, and based on a graphic novel by Sara Varon, it tells the story of a friendship between a dog and a robot.
Dog lives alone in an apartment in New York city in the 1980s. One night he looks out into the apartments of his neighbours and laments that their all coupled-up and he’s on his own. He gets into action and sends off from a mail-order kit and builds himself a robot friend.
The arrival of Robot completely changes Dog’s life, the pair head off on endless adventures and live life to its fullest. Until a situation forces the pair apart and they wonder if they’ll ever be reunited.
The animation is filled with tiny details that leave you scouring the screen for intriguing moments. Whether it’s a can of the long-forgotten diet soda TAB, or a tiny detail in a kitchen, boomboxes and cassette tapes, or the detail on shop signs and passing trucks.
The film also contains no dialogue, it rolls along with an engaging soundtrack. The lack of any dialogue makes its emotional rollercoaster effect an impressive feat. It’s an experience of beautiful melancholy and nostalgia.
The film was named best film at the prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival, as well as picking up the Best Animated Feature at the European Film Awards.
Catch Robot Dreams at Lotterywest Films from Monday 18th – Sunday 24th December.
Graeme Watson
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