Critic’s Pick: ‘Robot & Frank’

As unlikely as it is irresistible, “Robot & Frank” makes us believe that a serene automaton and a snappish human being can be best friends forever. It’s not any actor who can make this scenario plausible, but Frank Langella does it with a performance that’s the equivalent of an acting master class as he uses delicacy and underplaying to hold the screen even when he’s all by himself. Although many young filmmakers gravitate toward stories about the agonies of being under 30, “Robot & Frank’s” creative team, writer Christopher D. Ford and director Jake Schreier, have made a film about a 70-year-old man saddled with a healthcare robot that deals in a good-humored way with questions of age, vulnerability and usefulness. To keep the story lively, they’ve given it a futuristic backdrop and blended in elements of classic caper films. Not to be missed. — Kenneth Turan