Robot Dreams
Director: Pablo
Berger
Year: 2023
Rating: 7.0
It's
New York City. The lower east side in the 1980s. A rundown neighborhood that
has a few years left till gentrification comes in and sucks out the charm,
the pizza parlors, the bodegas, the guys on the street corner. Our protagonist
lives in a fourth-floor walk-up where he spends his nights playing Pong and
having frozen macaroni for dinner. No place can be lonelier than a big city
if you are not a part of it. You just watch as it goes by. He sees a commercial
for a robot that will provide friendship and company. And buys it. I should
mention that our protagonist is a dog and is named Dog. In fact, every creature
in this animated feature from France and Spain is an animal - all sorts from
elephants to cats. And they get along fine. No prejudice or bias - though
the anteaters are dicks. It is based on a 2007 comic by Sara Varon which
the director Pablo Berger had tried to turn it into a film for years before
it worked out. This received all sorts of accolades when it was released.
The animation of Dog and Robot is very 2-D
basic with little detail and no expression but the world around them is full
of wonderful detail and much of it right from the streets of the neighborhoods.
I used to spend some time hanging out there back then and so many of the
stores and landmarks struck a familiar chord with me. I could not place exactly
what street they were on but I know I passed them. The subways, Central Park
and a beach at the Jersey Shore all felt lifted from reality. Once Dog puts
his Robot together and the Robot gives him a big smile, they are soon doing
everything together - roller skating to Earth, Wind and Fire, sharing food,
holding hands, watching TV - The Wizard of Oz - a true friendship that could
last forever. But it doesn't and that is the rub of the film. Everything
in life is transitory. Even friendship. Life always gets in the way. But
we learn to go on. Touching, sweet, slyly humorous and ultimately truthful.
And zero dialogue.
