After the fascinating Mars express by Jérémie Périn, My robot friend demonstrates that androids have not finished inspiring filmmakers and animators. Spanish director Pablo Berger is known for liking to experiment and proved it with the atypical Biancanieves And Abracadabra. Fell in love with Robot dreamsa wordless graphic novel by Sara Varon, he decides to bring to the screen this story of friendship between a dog and a robot, suddenly separated.
2-D tributes
“I always have a weakness for 2-D animation,” he confides to 20 minutes. The simplicity of the line in the comic strip and the sensitivity of this tale made me want to adapt it. » A wise choice: My robot friend was selected at Cannes before winning the Contrechamp prize, intended to reward the most original works at the Annecy Festival.
“I am an avid movie buff. I love Woody Allen for example, or Pierre Etaix to whom I pay homage in this film. » References abound in what is also a beautiful declaration of love to the city of New York in which the director lived for several years. “The loneliness that Dog, the hero, feels is something I feel familiar with, but that doesn’t stop me from loving the city. »
Love of animation
Despite everything, Pablo Berger feels closer to Hideo Takahata, director of Tomb of the Fireflies and Tale of Princess Kaguya, than all the other filmmakers. “Like him, I like to constantly change my style and I don’t draw myself but I passionately love animation as a director and as a viewer. » This love for the medium emerges at every moment in this tenderly philosophical fable which celebrates friendship. The artist Benoît Feroumont, collaborator of Sylvain Chomet for The Triplets of Belleville and Tomm Moore for The Book of Kells came to lend him a hand to lead a team of around sixty animators.
Accessible for all age groups, My robot friend is above all a very beautiful cinema film. “When I watch an animated film, I sometimes forget that it is drawings or puppets because I get so carried away by the story,” explains Pablo Berger. This is exactly what we feel when watching his film.