The Strange Case of Senor Computer (1999)

Strange Case of Senor Computer (1999)
Written by Tom Sawyer
Directed by Tom Sawyer


A robot built for company and high tech calculating skills, soon develops curiosity and emotion, starting to believe it is human. Charles, the robots creator, is a man who brilliant is devoid of knowing how to deal with human contact. Whenever Charles leaves for work, Carlotta, the housekeeper, starts teaching the robot little things about life and the robot goes from infant to pre-teen level of thought. He also develops a sense of life through television, not knowing any better. Ike, as the robot likes to be called, starts waning for human contact and starts calling people long distance, racking up credit card debts and woman.

This is one of the strangest movies I’ve ever seen. I love it though. Not because I have a benign love for everything weird, but this movie is so wildly inventive on clearly such a low budget. The acting is great, the photography appropriate and the dialogue is timeless. At one point in the movie Ike convinces a woman he’s never met to masturbate over the phone, which makes her crazy for him.

What makes the film interesting is how bad you feel for the infantile robot and its creator. It’s got an A.I. feel, but with the rawness of an eighties New York underground movie. There are some extremely bizarre scenes, one seen from the robots point of view as it starts screaming like a baby.

One of my complaints though, is since the robot narrates the film, there are moments where the narration is muddled, and you miss a lot of the words said, for me at least.

I highly recommend it for anybody looking for something new and unique.