Robot & Frank
2012 film directed by Jake Schreier
Robot & Frank is a 2012 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Jake Schreier (in his directorial debut) from a screenplay by Christopher D. Ford. The film stars Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Peter Sarsgaard, James Marsden, and Liv Tyler.
Robot & Frank was the first feature film for both Schreier and Ford, and received critical acclaim for its writing, production, and acting. It won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, tying with the Kashmiri film Valley of Saints by Musa Syeed.
The robot was created by Tony Gardner's special effects company Alterian, Inc.
Plot
Set in the near future, aging ex-convict and thief Frank Weld lives alone and suffers from increasingly severe mental deterioration and dementia. Frank's son Hunter, an attorney with a family of his own, grows tired of making weekly visits to his father's home without his kids, but is reluctant to put his father into full-time care, so he purchases a robot companion, which is programmed to provide Frank with therapeutic care, including a fixed daily routine and cognition-enhancing activities like gardening.
Initially wary of the robot's presence in his life, Frank warms up to his new companion when he realizes the robot is not programmed to distinguish between legal recreational activities and criminal ones, and can assist him in lock-picking. Together, the two commit a heist in order to win the affection of the local librarian, Jennifer: they steal an antique copy of Don Quixote from the library, which is being renovated and turned into a community center in the wake of declining interest in print media.
In the meantime, Frank's daughter Madison, who is away on a philanthropic trip in Turkmenistan, learns of the robot and returns to convince her father to get rid of the machine, which she finds ethically objectionable.
The public source identifies “Robot & Frank” as 2012 film directed by Jake Schreier. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robot, Frank and film.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Robot & Frank”, the useful work is to connect “2012 film directed by Jake Schreier” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1357820. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Robot & Frank”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Robot & Frank primary sources, Robot & Frank archive and Robot research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robot & Frank”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Robot & Frank” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.