Robot & Frank

Robot & Frank is a 2012 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Jake Schreier (in his directorial debut) from a screenplay by Christopher D. Ford. The film stars Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Peter Sarsgaard, James Marsden, and Liv Tyler.

Robot & Frank was the first feature film for both Schreier and Ford, and received critical acclaim for its writing, production, and acting. It won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, tying with the Kashmiri film Valley of Saints by Musa Syeed.

The robot was created by Tony Gardner's special effects company Alterian, Inc.

Plot

Set in the near future, aging ex-convict and thief Frank Weld lives alone and suffers from increasingly severe mental deterioration and dementia. Frank's son Hunter, an attorney with a family of his own, grows tired of making weekly visits to his father's home without his kids, but is reluctant to put his father into full-time care, so he purchases a robot companion, which is programmed to provide Frank with therapeutic care, including a fixed daily routine and cognition-enhancing activities like gardening.

Initially wary of the robot's presence in his life, Frank warms up to his new companion when he realizes the robot is not programmed to distinguish between legal recreational activities and criminal ones, and can assist him in lock-picking. Together, the two commit a heist in order to win the affection of the local librarian, Jennifer: they steal an antique copy of Don Quixote from the library, which is being renovated and turned into a community center in the wake of declining interest in print media.