NZIFF: Robot Dreams

A beautifully ambiguous story of friendship, love and loss. At times heart-warming, at others heart-wrenching, this wordless fable explores what happens when the closest of bonds are weathered away by time and circumstance.

Direct from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Spanish writer-director Pablo Berger (Blancanieves, NZIFF 2012) adapts Sara Varon’s graphic novel, crafting a heartachingly brilliant dialogue-free animation that speaks to our universal need to find like-minded companions to share our days, as well as our ability to pick ourselves up, rebuild, and move on when life leaves us lonely.
Dog lives in a details-perfect illustrated version of early 80s New York City, home to anthropomorphised, bipedal animal residents of all kinds going about their bustling Big Apple lives. Alone in his apartment, full of big-city meanderings and microwaved macaroni, Dog sees an ad for an android companion. After assembling him from a kit he receives in the mail, Dog is invigorated by the presence of his new pal Robot, who quickly fills his life with unbridled joy, unconditional friendship and adventurous antics. But, time passes, seasons change, and tragedy looms large.