Movie Review: Robot and Frank

One of the things I really like about Science Fiction is that the genre can be used to tell just about any kind of story - I know, from a very basic point of view, Science Fiction should be set in the future, have advanced technology, and quite possibly aliens, but honestly, any intriguing technology can be used to to tell almost any type of story within a Science Fiction framework (like one of my favourite romances of 2009, TIMER).  Case in point, Robot and Frank.

The movie follows a man named Frank (wonderfully played by Frank Langella), who lives alone and suffers from both depression and dementia.  His two adult children, Hunter and Madison, are concerned for his well being, and eventually his son purchases him a helper robot, designed to help Frank with his routine and his overall health.

The robot does end up helping Frank, but not necessarily in the way his children would appreciate.  Overall the film was about a lonely older man finding friendship and I've got to admire that.

In addition it also had Susan Sarandon as a librarian, which is nice, as I never get tired of librarians in film (in TV however, is a slightly different story)