"Robot Dreams"

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[00:00:35] You are listening to the next best picture podcast and this is our review of robot dreams

[00:00:57] All right everybody you were just listening to the trailer for robot dreams and the story is as follows

[00:01:05] Dog is a lonely dog who lives in Manhattan one day he decides to build himself a robot a friend their friendship grows

[00:01:12] Until they become inseparable to the rhythm of New York in the 80s

[00:01:17] One summer night dog with great sorrow is forced to abandon robot on the beach

[00:01:23] Will they meet again?

[00:01:25] The film is

[00:01:27] starring

[00:01:29] Technically no one because it is a dialogue free animated film written in directed by Pablo Berger

[00:01:37] Here to join me today to talk about this highly unique

[00:01:41] But yet special Academy Award nominated film. I have a list of Christian hello

[00:01:47] Dan bear. I'm here for the tap dancing daisies

[00:01:51] Josh parrum

[00:01:52] Hello hello and joining us as a guest here on the podcast for the first time we have

[00:02:00] World for now film critic with by lines over at the rap Roger Ebert and D. Y.R

[00:02:06] BLA times in New York times Carlos Aguilar everybody

[00:02:10] Thank you for having me. No, thank you so much for being here really really appreciate hearing your voice on this one

[00:02:17] So Robot dreams heads world premiere at the can film festival and special screening section

[00:02:24] And it has now been nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature film

[00:02:30] It has technically not yet been released here in the US, but some of us have had the opportunity to see it early

[00:02:38] courtesy of Neon who is going to be handling distribution for it and

[00:02:43] And maybe some of us caught it at a festival or two here or there along the way

[00:02:46] It's still slowly rolling out

[00:02:48] But it's a movie that seems to really be capturing audience's hearts no matter where they see it anywhere in the world

[00:02:56] And as I mentioned earlier completely

[00:02:59] Dialogue free which is very rare now with days for an animated film you typically see this in shorts

[00:03:05] But not so much in feature length films

[00:03:08] From a general thoughts perspective just to start off here Carlos

[00:03:12] We're going to go into details in a little bit

[00:03:14] But just you know start us off with what did you think overall general thoughts wise of this movie?

[00:03:19] Yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of it. I was particularly impressed

[00:03:23] You know as you mentioned of you know how much

[00:03:26] The filmmaker gets across you know entirely you know with visuals and sort of

[00:03:31] the expressions of the animated characters that the world building you know that the picture of New York in the 80s

[00:03:37] It was very impressive and I think that you know

[00:03:41] On the surface he might seem like a you know an animated feature but a dog in a robot and you know

[00:03:47] We know dialogue that even it might seem sort of like slight

[00:03:50] But once you want to realize

[00:03:52] Sort of the depth of emotion the kind of like punch that it packs, you know

[00:03:56] In terms of you know

[00:03:59] What it makes you feel what it says about friendship?

[00:04:01] I was the parations about you know

[00:04:03] That the roads that we take in life. It's kind of more profound than it might seem from

[00:04:08] From the kind of a cute looking

[00:04:11] Characters that you see on the poster or the trailer

[00:04:13] So yeah, I was very impressed by you know how much of the director gets across without a single word

[00:04:19] Yeah, yeah completely agreed for sure. Oh listen what about you? What did you think of robot dreams?

[00:04:25] Yeah, so I was also a really big fan of this movie. I didn't see it until recently

[00:04:29] I did have a screener, but I didn't get around to watching it until after the film was not made for an academy award

[00:04:36] So I'm really really glad I did because I was a big fan of it and I have liked other

[00:04:41] Dialogue-free animated films like the red turtle and the Shana sheet movie

[00:04:45] So I had a feeling that I was really gonna like this especially you know if it has animals in it

[00:04:50] You know I'm gonna like it

[00:04:51] But yeah, I thought you know obviously it's a very simple story

[00:04:54] But has a lot of heart. It's whimsical. It's sad. It's kind of funny and the animation is beautiful

[00:05:00] And at first I was thinking that maybe this would have been better as a short film

[00:05:05] But then by the time it ended I was just so happy and really just kind of felt the vibe of the movie and

[00:05:12] I really enjoyed the 80-Soundrake and definitely gonna have the song September stuck in my head for a while

[00:05:17] So and by the end I definitely did tear up too, and that's definitely a good sign for me

[00:05:22] Yeah, yeah, and I coast on what you said to you about September

[00:05:25] I think it's like practically impossible to walk away from this movie not having that song stuck in your head

[00:05:31] Dan Bayer. What did you think of this one?

[00:05:34] Well, it's always impossible to walk around without

[00:05:38] September in your head after you've heard it

[00:05:41] One of the catchiest songs ever written

[00:05:45] That's a little bit of a cheat code, you know

[00:05:47] with it

[00:05:49] I think

[00:05:52] If you don't like this movie there may be something broken inside of you

[00:05:58] It's just the sweetest

[00:06:00] most

[00:06:02] Innocent adorable movie you've ever seen

[00:06:05] There's no earthly reason it needed to be anywhere near as long as it is. I don't think

[00:06:12] especially if

[00:06:14] all of the

[00:06:16] Sequences and flights of fanciacos down we're going to be quite so episodic and slight

[00:06:22] Like I mentioned at the top that this sequence with the the dancing the tap dancing daisies

[00:06:27] And I think that sequence is so great

[00:06:31] And they just don't know why there aren't more sequences of that level of

[00:06:38] Ambition and cleverness etc

[00:06:41] In the movie because that is so wonderful

[00:06:46] But like I said that doesn't stop the rest of the movie from being as

[00:06:50] so charming and

[00:06:53] Heart-felt and lovely

[00:06:55] I do think that it is a little slight and while I do

[00:06:59] Appreciate what it has to say and I think it takes a very

[00:07:03] Very mature tone at the end that I was not expecting at all

[00:07:09] But it doesn't mean that I still have some reservations about how it plays out as a story

[00:07:15] So I'm really interested to be talking more about this movie with you all alright

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[00:07:50] Welcome to the family VDW group no purchase necessary

[00:07:53] Voidware prohibited by law see terms and conditions 18 plus and Josh parm opening thoughts for you

[00:07:59] Yeah, I really

[00:08:01] Really love this movie

[00:08:03] You know, it's funny that you say that this has not really gotten the theatrical release and that is true

[00:08:09] But I did technically see it at a regular movie theater

[00:08:13] So I don't really know what the status of its theatrical release has been but I did get to see it that way

[00:08:21] This past fall and I just absolutely fell in love with it. I think this movie is just

[00:08:27] It has such a sweet and tender core to it

[00:08:31] I mean it really is just impossible to not be charmed by the world that it creates for these characters and

[00:08:37] The relationship that it builds out that I think

[00:08:41] Can be looked at as slight but I also think that it allows an opportunity to

[00:08:46] Open up to the world around you and really kind of dig into the

[00:08:51] Connections that you make with other people and just sort of appreciating life that is around you

[00:08:55] And then by the time you do get to the end

[00:08:57] It has this this bittersweet note to it, but still

[00:09:02] Optimistic and full of joy at the same time

[00:09:04] And I just found that to be so incredibly touching and throughout the entire movie

[00:09:09] I do agree with you Dan that I think there are sections of this thing that

[00:09:15] Meander just a little bit and I think slows the momentum

[00:09:19] Momentum down just a bit for me

[00:09:21] But it's not enough to ruin it at all. I was still

[00:09:24] So taken by the film overall

[00:09:27] I think it's so lovely and sweet and it's one of my favorites of the of the previous year to be honest

[00:09:32] I think this is a really really special film

[00:09:35] So when I saw this a can I went in with obviously

[00:09:38] Zero expectations didn't know what I was getting myself into with this one

[00:09:42] I knew it was animated and I kind of figured okay an animated film that can you know

[00:09:47] Maybe this will be a thing later on when we get to award season turned out to be true

[00:09:53] And so I

[00:09:55] Remember thinking walking out

[00:09:58] How much this reminded me of the same feeling I had when I saw past lives in that

[00:10:06] Yes to New York's setting certainly helps but

[00:10:10] how

[00:10:11] mature it was in the way it handled

[00:10:14] It's themes and how emotional it

[00:10:18] Maybe feel like I really snuck up on me in a way that surprised me as a viewer

[00:10:23] Because I think I just had this

[00:10:26] preconceived idea of how it was gonna go and

[00:10:29] As everyone is saying it does sort of start to

[00:10:33] For me at least dip a little bit in the second act to the point where I did start questioning

[00:10:38] Okay, does this movie need to be 102 minutes long could this have been

[00:10:43] Possibly even like on the longer side of a short, you know like maybe it could have been 35 minutes or something along those lines

[00:10:52] But I do think that there is such tremendous payoff

[00:10:58] by the end and

[00:11:00] To Dan's point earlier if you're not one over by this movie by the end of it

[00:11:05] I really wouldn't know exactly what to say to you. I could imagine some people having some

[00:11:12] You know quams and some stuff to point out about it for sure. That's totally fine

[00:11:16] But if I saw someone give this like a one-star review on letterbox or something like that. I'd be like

[00:11:22] Excuse me

[00:11:24] Do you need a hug?

[00:11:26] It's one of those movies that is

[00:11:29] Irresistibly cute charming sweet so well intentioned

[00:11:33] And there's a simplicity to it that I think allows for you to feel

[00:11:39] Disarmed that by the end of it. It does work its way over you in a way that it's just so

[00:11:46] Emotionally rewarding

[00:11:48] So I do want to first start off as our first topic here

[00:11:52] It isn't animated film as we've mentioned, so let's talk about the animation

[00:11:57] I don't think any of us

[00:11:59] When we saw the stills for this we're expecting anything on the level of one of the big

[00:12:06] Animation studios like in terms of scale and budget or anything like that

[00:12:11] But I would like about it movie like this is that it reminds me how you don't need all of that

[00:12:17] production value to still tell a good story

[00:12:21] A good story can come from any part of the world with any type of budget and

[00:12:28] That is something that even though of is this the most mind blowing animation in the world? No

[00:12:33] But does it support the story? Absolutely it does

[00:12:38] It reminded me a lot of

[00:12:40] Silventio May's films

[00:12:43] It's a Belleville and

[00:12:45] Agnés

[00:12:46] And not necessarily in terms of this style although they're similar

[00:12:50] but in that every scene has

[00:12:53] something

[00:12:55] Happening either in the background or in the foreground that is just so clever and

[00:13:02] Such a nice little detail that a

[00:13:05] 100% did not need to be there and would have made everyone's jobs

[00:13:11] 100% easier if it wasn't there

[00:13:13] but the fact that it is there and is so

[00:13:18] Incredibly clever and well done just adds to the overall texture of the film

[00:13:24] You know little things like how

[00:13:27] The dogs like tail wags when he gets excited or like the

[00:13:32] Doh dust that bursts up when he pulls open the bag of Cheetos

[00:13:38] Yeah, or I'm the way that the snowman is his face takes on the color of whatever he's sipping like

[00:13:47] It just covered things like that that like it show a lot of thought has been put into every frame of this

[00:13:54] Hey everyone started the rubber

[00:13:55] This is a preview of our review for robot dreams here on the next best picture podcast

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