Robot Stories

Science Fiction is a great device for writing about social politics, and these four short films do this well in some way or another.

The first story is the sharpest, and questions how we value motherhood against normal human values. The serious point, that babies are truly alien to your life, is well made.

The second film slighly connects love of science fiction with withdrawl from real life. And this film was in a Sci-Fi festival!

The third film is light relief, but does explore alienation and fear in a simple way.

The last film is in someways the most traditional, in that it looks at the ultimate mechanization of human life.

All these stories are in turn funny, sexy and intelligent - I wouldn't say that any were original, well produced or deep. A good film for a new director.

In the four-part anthology film "Robot Stories," writer/director Greg Pak examines the role that technology plays in modern life, pondering the age old quandaries of what is real and what is synthetic and whether or not technology can truly enhance our lives. Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Pak has chosen to utilize many of the same cast members - largely Asian - for each of the unrelated episodes.

The first story, entitled "My Robot Baby," takes place in the not too distant future when couples who are looking to adopt a child are first sent home with a fully computerized and monitored, "simulated" baby that they have to take care of for a brief period of time (this is a more elaborate version of what many high school Health teachers do with their students to convince them of just how much work caring for a newborn can be). How the participants do on this "test" helps to determine their fitness as parents and their eligibility for getting a "real" child in the future. This segment is both creepy and witty in roughly equal measure. In the well acted and touching second episode, "The Robot Fixer," a young man lies brain dead in a hospital after he is run over by a car. His mother and sister, who have long been estranged from the man, spend their time reconstructing his collection of beloved toy robots as a way of coming to terms with who he really is. This is the only section that deals not with futuristic technology per se but with the part technology plays in our imaginations and fantasies. The third installment, "Machine Love," is probably the most conventional of the quartet, about how even two robots - in this case, two office "workers" - need a little love in a cold, uncaring world. It's a theme that has been explored in virtually every film involving robots since "Metropolis" in 1927. "Clay," the fourth and most thoughtful segment, takes us to a future world in which people, rather than dying, become somehow absorbed into a giant "system" that allows them to live on in holographic form. A dying sculptor is forced to choose between this kind of virtual "eternal life" devoid of tactile sensation, or taking his chances with a more natural albeit uncertain existence in the great beyond.

As with many anthology films, "Robot Stories" turns out to be better in parts than it is as a whole, with certain episodes inevitably proving to be more imaginative and more captivating than others. Moreover, the twenty-odd minute length allotted for each section doesn't allow for the kind of depth and resonance one finds in more fully developed feature length movies. Nevertheless, given the constraints of the format he has chosen, Pak has mounted an impressive little product, taking advantage of his miniscule budget to adopt a subtle, low-keyed approach to a subject that, given less limited resources, might otherwise have become top heavy with special effects. The acting - particularly on the part of the older actors in the cast - is outstanding. "Robot Stories" may not satisfy the demands of the average sci-fi aficionado, but those in search of something different may enjoy it.

"Robot Stories" is a collection of four thematically related short films, written, produced, directed and, in at least one, acted by Gregory Pak.

They are humanistic "Outer Limits" episodes with the usual ending twist. The first two particularly rise above the genre with touching insight into human and machine interaction, the fourth almost succeeds, and the third just seems like the usual android of the future amidst the humans, similar to "Data"'s experiences on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

One unique resonance is the preponderance of Asian-American actors, which adds a subtle layer of commentary about "the model minority" with the pressures on them to succeed that can only be met by machine perfection, perhaps leading to the pressure to opt for tekkie, rather than artistic--like filmmaking--fields.

The movie concludes with a sweet tribute to a friend or relative of a worker on the film who died at the World Trade Center.

I saw this movie recently at an independent theater nearby, and after the film director and star Greg Pak was there to answer questions and answers. First of all, this small, bearded, laid-back man looked nothing like he did in the movie: a muscular, completely shaven, stiff robot. This small movie is very independent, made on a very small budget, and in a couple of the four short vignettes, that shows. The most touching segment is called "Clay," in which an old man must choose between a normal death or keeping his mind alive for ever. This is the most mysterious, most touching, smartest, and works the most on the small budget and resources. The other three are decent. Pak's movie has the simple message: that the human heart will always prevail, even if Robots take over most human activites. In the first segment, a woman embraces a little plastic robot that looks like an egg with eyes drawn on by a Sharpie marker. In the second one, an old woman searches the cities for little action figures that are supposed to be extremely valuable. In the third, a robot falls in love with another robot. The fourth is Clay. This movie is far from perfect, but the quirks and touches of human life are enough to see past the imperfections and inconsistencies.

My grade: 7/10

26 August 2005. This sometimes cute, sometimes somber movie using robot-themed short stories addresses important matters of motherhood, love, and death. While not penetrating to the depths of our soul, each of the four stories offers the audience an emotional jolt of sympathy and reflection on the meaning of love and dying and moving on if necessary. The first story using a robotic adoption test baby offers a dark-humor approach to the connection between a mother and her baby, the path taken and the past carried on from mother to daughter. The second story focuses on death, the meaning of life while alive, and the ability to move on and leaving one's past for some future life. The third story provides an indirect humorous parody of love among robots and the anthropomorphic possibilities of mechanical electronics and our human awareness of such alternative experiences. The last and perhaps most troubling is one man's forced decision of either having his past life encapsulated into electronic eternity or letting his physical reality disappear forever. Each of these stories has some small, if not deeply moving universal answers, it probes the outer boundaries of matters that each of us at some time has or must face. A relevant peak into some of the most critical values and concepts facing us as human beings using of all things, something most inhuman - robots. Seven out of Ten Stars. Seven out of Ten Stars.