Robot Stories

Virtual gems: Robot Stories offers a heart-tugging quartet of smart sci-fi tales

By Anthony Allison

Just when you thought it was safe to return to the multiplex, along comes another frickin' robot flick. You've patiently endured the perennial, phantom menace of cute computers and artificially intelligent bad guys--2001's sinister HAL 9000, Blade Runner's killer replicants, Star Wars' whining C-3PO, that overrated Matrix, A.I.'s insufferable android boy and I, Robot's jerky revolutionaries.

But don't dismiss Robot Stories out of hand. Indie filmmaker Greg Pak's first "feature" is actually an engaging set of four short films exploring various aspects of humankind's interaction with our increasingly high-tech world: A childless couple "adopts" a robot baby, a distraught mom tries connecting with her comatose son, an android office worker learns about love, a sculptor faces the ultimate Faustian bargain in a virtual reality world.

The themes seem derivative of a bazillion sci-fi books, movies and TV episodes. The limitations imposed by Pak's shoestring budget are painfully evident. And some episodes work better than others. But thanks to some assured acting and satisfying--if unsurprising--twists, these four segments cumulatively offer something much more satisfying than most sci-fi blockbusters. George Lucas could learn something from Pak and his predominantly Asian-American cast about creating credible characters to replace the stilted denizens of his soulless, artificial worlds.

In My Robot Baby, Tamlyn Tomita and James Saito somehow keep a straight face as they act with a large, cheap-and-cheesy-looking egg--supposedly a robotic baby simulator they must care for before becoming eligible to adopt a human infant. The baby bot's ovoid shape inevitably evokes memories of those old sociology assignments that required students to cosset an egg like a baby. But the poignant payoff makes the considerable effort of suspending disbelief worthwhile.

Equally heart-tugging is Wai Ching Ho in The Robot Fixer, a touching vignette about dysfunction, denial and grief in which a desperate mother ignores the entreaties of her daughter (Cindy Cheung) and tries inducing her estranged son (Louis Changchien) to wake from a post-road accident coma by bringing his prized, boyhood collection of toy robots to his hospital bedside.

Pak himself bravely goes for the "most wooden acting" award, adopting a suitably blank expression to play Machine Love's mechanical office worker, who confounds his tech support overseer (Bill Coelius) by developing a crush on a female android (Julie Muz) across the street. It's not quite Office Space or Clockwatchers, but Pak makes some wry observations about the usual office suspects along the way.

Last but definitely not least, Sab Shimono is wonderfully expressive in Clay as an aging sculptor who doesn't have to rely on fading memories thanks to a virtual interaction session that takes him right back to his prime. "I don't deserve you," says this regretful but resigned oldster to the ageless love of his life (magnificently elegant Eisa Davis). This intriguing existential parable about the nature of artistic creativity and the struggles of a Faustian figure to resist the temptation of a Mephistophelean promise of immortality is so beautifully played, so sensuous and tactile, you feel you can virtually reach out and touch it.

These Stories are framed by Daniel Kanemoto's clever, animated credit sequence and a poignant final note that Pak began shooting his film in New York on Sept. 10, 2001. The film boasts a soundtrack brimming with cute sound effects and striking songs (Bluegrazer's catchy "Hey, Momma," and Junior Kimbrough's bluesy cynical "Done Got Old"). And it effectively proves that, when it's as lovingly crafted as this, a quartet can amount to much more than the sum of its parts.