Robot and Frank, the opening night feature of the Sarasota Film Festival 2012.” title=”Frank Langella stars in Robot and Frank, the opening night feature of the Sarasota Film Festival 2012. The actor appeared onstage after the film, received with rousing standing ovation.” width=”300″ height=”128″ />
- Publicity Photo
- Frank Langella stars in Robot and Frank, the opening night feature of the Sarasota Film Festival 2012.
Buddy flicks sure can be sappy, sucking in viewers with tugs at the ol’ heart strings, and just as certain, sci-fi can be far-fetched and predictable.
Both genres, however, have melded into a touching new prototype with Robot and Frank, the film that got Sundance abuzz and won best feature at the 2012 festival.
A-lister Frank Langella — who returned to prominence in Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon — agreed to star in the low-key film with Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler and Peter Sarsgaard, who’s the disembodied voice of the movie’s mysteriously intuitive robot. The decidedly non-CG white plastic guy is costumed and animated by various friends and young relatives of the cast and crew throughout the film.
Langella’s honest, edgy and often humorous portrayal added a subtle humanity to the film — framed by Jake Schreier’s measured direction and Christopher Ford’s honest screenplay, which is chock full of some of the best lines spoken in a movie in some time.
- Daniel Veintimilla
- Langella with Schreier and Ford at the Robot and Frank Q&A
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.
