If you watched the Oscars on Sunday, you may have wondered about one of the nominees for Best Animated Feature: Robot Dreams, written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger (Blancanieves) and based on the graphic novel by Sara Varon. The movie, which premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival, is currently scheduled for a U.S. release at the end of May.
But you may be able to catch this charming all-ages film at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier on Friday, March 15, at 10:30 a.m. — if you arrive 30 minutes early and put yourself on the wait list for a sold-out screening at the revived Green Mountain Film Festival. Barring that, look forward to this gem — and check out more weekend festival screenings in the sidebar.
Dog (voice of Ivan Labanda) leads a quiet life in 1980s Manhattan. One night he turns off the TV and catches sight of his reflection, all alone on the dark screen. The TV goes back on, and Dog orders himself a robot companion.
Robot (also Labanda) may be as rudimentary in his design as the Tin Man, but he has feelings. He can hold hands. He appreciates the energy of buskers in the subway and the euphoria of roller skating in Central Park to "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Then, during a seaside outing, Robot takes a swim, and a malfunction leaves him stranded just as Ocean Beach closes for the season. Dog tries frantically to rescue his friend, but tall fences and municipal authorities bar the way. Will Dog and Robot ever be reunited?
Robot Dreams is a testimony to the power of visual storytelling to bridge communication gaps. The characters are all anthropomorphized animals or robots. Not one line of dialogue is spoken. (The voice acting consists of expressive nonverbal sounds.) Yet the movie might move you to tears. I've seen it described variously as "cute" and "traumatizing," and both are accurate. As in the case of Pixar's Up, younger viewers are more likely to fixate on the cute factor, while older ones register the sadness. But almost everyone will find something to connect to.
Let's start with the setting. The grubby, lived-in New York City of the 1970s and early '80s has icon status for a reason. Movies such as Taxi Driver documented it, and later ones such as Joker did their best to re-create it. But I never imagined that it would take a 2D animated film from Europe to transport me back into the sight- and soundscape where I lived for several formative years.
Berger spent a decade in the city during that same era, and in an interview with Deadline, he said he hoped to craft a "love letter to the New York that I experienced." Sound designer Fabiola Ordoyo drew on archival material to create layers of urban noise that affect you on a subliminal level. The visual details of every scene are lovingly and accurately realized, from the storefronts to a salvage yard to a building super's apartment to — of course — the Twin Towers looming on the horizon. For Halloween, Dog hands out Jelly Belly candies, a trendy novelty in those days. He plays Pong and watches actual music videos on MTV.
But if Robot Dreams evokes nostalgia in some viewers, it isn't the cheap kind of nostalgia that consists of simply collecting and labeling pieces of our past. Like fellow Oscar nominee Past Lives, this animation is very much about the bittersweetness of regret, of wondering how our lives might have gone differently if we had spent them with one person rather than another.
Romantic and platonic relationships blur in Robot Dreams, as they often do in a child's mind: What matters is having a daily companion, a best friend. The movie's title refers to the dreams — some wistful, some beautifully trippy — that Robot experiences as he waits for Dog through a long, solitary winter. When spring arrives, a bird uses him as a nesting place. The symbiotic relationship between Robot and his new avian friends unfolds in a sequence so achingly tender that it has the enduring resonance of Hans Christian Andersen's tales.
Much ink has been spilled over the question of whether machines can dream or love. Propelled by the generous logic of childhood, Robot Dreams never doubts it. The movie speaks to the power of the human mind to project our feelings onto everyone and everything we encounter — the enormous yet fragile gift of empathy. See it when you can.
Farming While Black (2023; Green Mountain Film Festival, March 15 and 16, 1 p.m., at Savoy Theater): This documentary from Mark Decena profiles the cofounder of the Hudson Valley's Soul Fire Farm. On Saturday, a talk with four of Vermont's Black farmers follows the screening.
Evil Does Not Exist (2023; Green Mountain Film Festival, March 14, 8:15 p.m., and March 17, 11:30 a.m., at Savoy Theater): In the new drama from director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), glamping and development threaten people's quiet way of life in a rural village near Tokyo.
Occupied City (2023; Vermont International Film Foundation Screening Room, March 16 and 17, 3 p.m., at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington): Director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) explores the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam in an acclaimed four-and-a-half-hour documentary that uses neither talking heads nor archival footage.