ROBOT STORIES (2003), dir. Greg Pak
Engages the Mind While Touching the Heart
Like a well-oiled, productive machine, "Robot Stories" offers more in eighty-eight streamlined minutes than most flicks three times as long. It’s a movie that presents ideas, and asks questions, such as: Can a robot serve as a surrogate for a mother’s relationship with her son, or a mother for her baby? Is a computer-generated replicant of a former lover, missing all the flaws that lover had, preferable to the real thing? Can human beings learn to love machines? Do machines need love?
Writer/director Greg Pak asks these questions, among others, in four tales about people and robots. An independent effort, his film isn’t exactly cineplex sci-fi fodder. There are few special effects in "Robot Stories," and the ones it has are more atmospheric than elaborate. But the movie itself looks good for an indie, and there is some wonderful acting that complements an intelligent script.
Plotwise, Pak’s quartet of tales breaks down the following way: An egg-shaped droid serves as a practice run for a childless couple in "My Robot Baby." Ultraman-style toys become a mother’s link to her comatose son in "The Robot Fixer." Corporations can order android employees for all their I.T. needs in the near-future world of "Machine Love." Finally, in the haunting segment "Clay," a dying artist has to decide whether to allow his brain to be preserved forever as a kind of computer program.
Personally, I liked "Machine Love" and "The Robot Fixer" best. What made "Machine Love" resonate most strongly was the contrast between the android (played by Pak himself wearing mannequin-esque make-up), who had very human traits such as curiosity and an ability to learn, and the corporate work environment, which seems about as dehumaned and dehumanizing as anything George Orwell ever thought up.
"The Robot Fixer," meanwhile, features a terrific performance by Wai Ching Ho as a mother whose son lies in a comatose state. She tries to fix up his childhood toys as a means of waking him out of his coma. I might have liked this segment more if the plot hadn’t reminded me of Lars von Triers’ "Breaking the Waves (1996)." But Wai Ching Ho does such good work that if Hollywood ever needs to cast an intelligent, non-stereotypical, middle-aged Asian woman, this movie should put her on several casting directors' short list.
Worst of Pak’s quartet might be “My Robot Baby.” From the opening flashback of domestic upheaval, wherein young Marcia is warned by her mother to “never have children,” we can already guess the direction of the rest of the tale: That grown-up Marcia (Tamlyn Tomita) will be a terrible mother, just like her own maternal model, until the titular robot redeems her. Expect no surprises here.
The last short, “Clay,” could also use further molding. Within its elliptical structure lies a tantalizing idea, that imperfection is synonomous with being human. Also intriguing, however, is the idea that a society could outlaw dying naturally, that is, without undergoing the brain-mapping process. I wish that Pak had explored that sub-plot further. Still, I give him credit for filling his glass at least halfway.
Overall rating: *** (out of ****)
Like a well-oiled, productive machine, "Robot Stories" offers more in eighty-eight streamlined minutes than most flicks three times as long. It’s a movie that presents ideas, and asks questions, such as: Can a robot serve as a surrogate for a mother’s relationship with her son, or a mother for her baby? Is a computer-generated replicant of a former lover, missing all the flaws that lover had, preferable to the real thing? Can human beings learn to love machines? Do machines need love?
Writer/director Greg Pak asks these questions, among others, in four tales about people and robots. An independent effort, his film isn’t exactly cineplex sci-fi fodder. There are few special effects in "Robot Stories," and the ones it has are more atmospheric than elaborate. But the movie itself looks good for an indie, and there is some wonderful acting that complements an intelligent script.
Plotwise, Pak’s quartet of tales breaks down the following way: An egg-shaped droid serves as a practice run for a childless couple in "My Robot Baby." Ultraman-style toys become a mother’s link to her comatose son in "The Robot Fixer." Corporations can order android employees for all their I.T. needs in the near-future world of "Machine Love." Finally, in the haunting segment "Clay," a dying artist has to decide whether to allow his brain to be preserved forever as a kind of computer program.
Personally, I liked "Machine Love" and "The Robot Fixer" best. What made "Machine Love" resonate most strongly was the contrast between the android (played by Pak himself wearing mannequin-esque make-up), who had very human traits such as curiosity and an ability to learn, and the corporate work environment, which seems about as dehumaned and dehumanizing as anything George Orwell ever thought up.
"The Robot Fixer," meanwhile, features a terrific performance by Wai Ching Ho as a mother whose son lies in a comatose state. She tries to fix up his childhood toys as a means of waking him out of his coma. I might have liked this segment more if the plot hadn’t reminded me of Lars von Triers’ "Breaking the Waves (1996)." But Wai Ching Ho does such good work that if Hollywood ever needs to cast an intelligent, non-stereotypical, middle-aged Asian woman, this movie should put her on several casting directors' short list.
Worst of Pak’s quartet might be “My Robot Baby.” From the opening flashback of domestic upheaval, wherein young Marcia is warned by her mother to “never have children,” we can already guess the direction of the rest of the tale: That grown-up Marcia (Tamlyn Tomita) will be a terrible mother, just like her own maternal model, until the titular robot redeems her. Expect no surprises here.
The last short, “Clay,” could also use further molding. Within its elliptical structure lies a tantalizing idea, that imperfection is synonomous with being human. Also intriguing, however, is the idea that a society could outlaw dying naturally, that is, without undergoing the brain-mapping process. I wish that Pak had explored that sub-plot further. Still, I give him credit for filling his glass at least halfway.
Overall rating: *** (out of ****)
posted by Phil | 8:20 PM
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