Robot Stories

So last week I went to see this movie Robot Stories. It's a collection of four short movies, written and directed by Greg Pak, that explore the emotional relationships between humans and technology. In the first one, a woman and her husband are waiting to adopt a baby, and they are given a sort of test-run with a robot child. The babybot was cute on the surface, but also strangely creepy, and I think this one was my favorite. If I forced myself to pick a least favorite, it would be the one about a robot office worker, but only because I don't find it believable when human actors play robots. If this had been some big-budget movie with a CG robot in the same role, I might have liked it better.



Three of the four stories made me cry, but I'm still very happy I went. (And for anyone who thinks this movie might make them sad, I should include the disclaimer that I cry at everything from Everwood to The Simpsons.) Greg Pak proves that movies about robots don't have to be about scary futuristic battles. So if Robot Stories comes to your town, I think you should put on a shiny silver outfit and buy your robot-loving self a ticket.