robot dreams

★★★★★

starring: ivan labanda, albert trifol segarra, rafa calvo, jose garcia tos ​

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REVIEWER: lyall carter

The adventures and misfortunes of Dog and Robot in New York City during the 1980s.

Dog lives in Manhattan and he’s tired of being alone. One day he decides to build himself a robot, a companion. Their friendship blossoms, until they become inseparable, to the rhythm of 80’s NYC. One summer night, Dog, with great sadness, is forced to abandon Robot at the beach. Will they ever meet again?

What truly makes Robot Dreams spectacular, and more than worthy of the awards it received and was nominated for, is its simplicity of story yet the extraordinary way in which it executes the telling of it. 

With the exception of the soundtrack that dominates its storytelling, Robot Dreams doesn’t have any dialogue. To tell a story in a medium that generally relies heavily on spoken words between its characters which has this amount of emotional heft is an incredible achievement.

The film makers instead rely heavily on the exaggerated actions of its characters, dream-like sequences instead of a monologue from one of the characters describing their feelings, and the animation of the story itself. 

The animation is crafted in such a way that it not only fills the screen with an array of characters in settings that are bursting with detail but it helps draw you into the emotional longings of the characters and the themes of the story. 

A rare cinematic wonder in its simplicity of story and in the extraordinary way in which it executes it, Robot Dreams is one of the best films of 2024.