Robot Stories

"Robot Stories" is a collection of four thematically related short films, written, produced, directed and, in at least one, acted by Gregory Pak.

They are humanistic "Outer Limits" episodes with the usual ending twist. The first two particularly rise above the genre with touching insight into human and machine interaction, the fourth almost succeeds, and the third just seems like the usual android of the future amidst the humans, similar to "Data"'s experiences on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

One unique resonance is the preponderance of Asian-American actors, which adds a subtle layer of commentary about "the model minority" with the pressures on them to succeed that can only be met by machine perfection, perhaps leading to the pressure to opt for tekkie, rather than artistic--like filmmaking--fields.

The movie concludes with a sweet tribute to a friend or relative of a worker on the film who died at the World Trade Center.