Pablo Berger’s latest film Robot Dreams is described in the first line of its Wikipedia entry as “animated tragicomedy”, which feels both accurate but also completely insufficient. These days, animated theatrical releases are dominated by the big animation studios (Pixar/Disney, Sony, Illumination, and Ghibli, etc.) so it is a particular breath of fresh air for an independent foreign studios to gain some recognition. The production process was a stop-start one spanning over a decade, and was in collaboration with various animation studios across Spain, but the end result was well worth it.
Robot Dreams starts off with a familiar enough conceit. Set in 1980s Manhattan, a lonely dog sits alone in his apartment, eating TV dinners and watching late night infomercials. He orders and assembles a mail-order robot who quickly becomes his constant companion and best friend. From there, this unlikely buddy story becomes a fish-out-of-water story with fun montages and the best dance scene of the year taking place through the animal anthropomorphic New York City. Whether a close friendship or a romantic relationship, the exciting, whirlwind nature of a blossoming connection is so universal in so many ways. What tends to be so different in each circumstance is that way that a relationship can end, though often heartbreaking all the same.
The animation is a throwback too – simple, 2D animation that feels like it belongs on a 1990s cartoon channel, but the simplicity only serves to underline the characters and their emotions. Interestingly, there is zero interest in the hot topics du jour – of what it means to be a robot, or artificial intelligence, etc. The robot is simply given and taken as a best friend that Dog immediately takes to. The other striking part is that there is not a single line of dialogue spoken throughout the 102 minute runtime, forcing the viewer into a certain sort of attention and focus that would have been much more common in the silent film era. This choice also elevates the soundtrack and the makes the end result all the more impressive – getting you invested in characters that never speak, are not human, and barely even have the basic level of detail to show facial expressions.
As such, the film is a minor miracle. There have been numerous comparisons to Past Lives or La La Land, but Robot Dreams is good enough to stand on its own. It captures that melancholic feeling of being alone in a crowded metropolis, the excitement of being the center of the world where you and your friend are the only two people that matter. The simpler the canvas, the more clear the reflections on the vicissitudes and unpredictability of life.
There are so many things to recommend about this film: it is a sometimes fun and sometimes heartbreaking piece of art on relationships and loss, and the changing nature of relationships and the ability to adapt and to make decisions. There is a beautiful scene that recalls the connection between music and memory that all of us have likely experienced at one point or another. Kids will enjoy Robot Dreams, but it will also strike an emotional chord that will resonate much more deeply with older viewers. In the end, we are left with the realization that sometimes, life is but a Robot Dream.
Now playing in theatres.
