“A tragicomedy about the joy of living”

We confess: we wish we had My robot friendfrom the April 4 finally also in cinema Italians, had won theOscar for best animated film. It won’t take Hayao Miyazakiwho we adore with all our hearts and who has created a great work with The boy and the heronbut the work of Pablo Bergerin his surprising debut in cartoons, has the merit of one moving freshness not to be underestimated. We present ours below interview with Pablo.
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My robot friend, the review of Pablo Berger’s animated masterpiece

Pablo Berger on My Robot Friend: “My teacher for me is Chaplin” [SPOILER]

Director Pablo Berger he tried his hand at animated cinema for the first time with this My robot friendtaken from the book of the same name graphic novel by Sara Varonpublished in 2010. Simple story, more complex theme than it seems: in a New York between the Seventies and Eighties, inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, Dog feels lonely and orders a pet robot by mail. He becomes his best friend, but an unexpected event separates them. Will they reunite? Let’s start by saying that some element of the following conversation is at risk spoilers: if you prefer to experience the film peacefully, come back here to learn more about its themes after watching.

Pablo, it’s a real honor for me to talk to you, I loved the film!

I’m happy to hear it, films are like children, I write them, I direct them, I produce them, it’s one five year gestation! You may be a journalist but you are also a spectator, a cinema enthusiast, so I receive these compliments with joy, thank you!

Let’s start from the beginning, what was Sara Varon’s reaction when you expressed your desire to adapt her graphic novel into a film?

I think it was surprise. He replied that in her opinion nothing would ever be done about it, because we wouldn’t have obtained the rights, we wouldn’t have found the money… but it was clear that she didn’t know me! Why I knew we could do it, I knew we were going to have very good producers, and I was at a point in my career where I knew that if we could do it for a reasonable budget, we could do it. What no one imagined was the success that we would have had with the film, she is now just enjoying the whole experience, every minute of it. She came to the Oscarwas present at the Toronto Film Festival, is thrilled with the success of the film.

For me My Robot Friend it is a film about love, in the broadest and deepest sense. In my opinion it manages to explore various aspects of love. Do you agree? Is love really the cornerstone of My Robot Friend?

Yes, certainly. Of course every movie has different interpretationsand in the case of My robot friend this is even more true, because no words are spoken. For example, children, seeing the film, think that it is aboutfriendship, but obviously many read it as a love story. But after all, friendship is love, sometimes there is no difference between friendship and love, but it is definitely a love story, a deep and heartfelt love story. Some read it as the story of a first loveothers see the relationship with Raccoonthe second owner of the robot, as a love story in old age. There are many interpretations… but talk about the relationshow fragile they can be, how anything can happen and how sometimes you have to know how to let someone go.

By the way, there’s also this idea of happiness. What I understand from the film is that collective happiness is more important than our happiness, than the happiness of the individual. At least, that’s what I gather from the ending of the film, which incidentally is very courageous and mature.

Yes, I think that Robot is very generous and mature, for me Robot put on a scale his memories of the relationship he had with Cane, but also what happened to him with the other relationship. I believe love is a act of generosity and of course this Robot is not a machine, it is a metaphor, it is not a machine with CPU and artificial intelligence, it is one metaphor of the ideal mate, both in the sense of friend and lover. It’s wonderful, we should all have a life partner like Robot.

It’s funny that you say that, because I realize that the film takes place between the late seventies and early eighties, I would say. I also spotted a console Atari 2600! In that era there was a huge romantic enthusiasm for technology. Do you think your Robot is the embodiment of that romantic pioneer spirit?

Definitely, like you said in the 1980s we didn’t see technology as a threat, today instead we see robots, technology and AI as threats. But there is also a connection with the Japanese culturewho influences me a lot, my closest collaborator Yuko Harami he is Japanese, and he is also my life partner, so I often go to Japan. And in Japan they never saw robots as threats. And I like to think so. Then as I said before, Robot, before being a robot, is a metaphor. And I want when the audience comes to see My Robot Friend to think of it like this, I don’t want him to take Robot and Dog literally. I want him to experience them like I did when I read the book so long ago, I saw it all my friends, all lovers, all companionsso for me it’s nice that the film speaks to different segments of the audience in a different way.

Robot helps a little bird grow and fly, because it has time to observe life around it. Do you think that’s the key to being happy in our world? I am trying to say, take the time to empathize with the world around us?

I think so, this movie is about joy of life. For example theItalyas well as the Spain hey Mediterranean countriesthey have this joy of living, we experience the little things, we meet people at the bar, we have lunch with colleagues… I think there is so much loneliness in the world, but less in the Mediterranean world. Yes, Robot is one who pays attention, who learns from experiences, for example – and it’s one of my favorite parts of the film – right in the scene with the bird, he’s so generous… it’s a marvel. There is a connection with the theme of the film: as adults we know that in life it can happen to us very close to someonewhich is very important for us, then for one reason or another something happens detachment. But there remain the memories that help us overcome the lossand for me this is one of the main themes of the film.

I especially liked that the film is sweet but not naive. Every now and then the characters suffer unexpectedly bad actions from other characters. How important it was for you to show actions too malignant in history?

I think it’s important, my teacher for me is Chaplin, I’m just an apprentice. And of Chaplin’s early films, my favorite is City lightswhere they live together humor, drama, tears, joy. But when a film becomes lovey dovey or too sentimental, you need a punch in the stomach. I I hate sentimentalityI believe that in the world there is a lot of evilterrible things happen, antagonists exist, but we must deploy our sense of humor to face life. This is why my favorite genre is la tragicomedyand I think My Robot Friend is a tragicomedy.