Brian and Charles review: a robot comedy that finds the sweet side of Ex Machina

This review by Brian and Charles was originally posted in conjunction with the film’s premiere event at the 2022 Sundance International Film Festival. It has been updated and re-posted for the film’s theatrical premiere.

One of the oldest questions in science fiction – ever posed by Mary Shelley Frankenstein and recently like this year After Yang – asked, “If we create artificial life, what will happen when it recognizes its organ and looks beyond us?” The answer is often dark and predictive, resolved in the cruel manipulations of Blade Runner or the bloody revenge of Ex Machina. She presents a less violent but still melancholy vision of AIs that quickly surpass humans and treat them with benevolent indifference.

90 minutes of light comedy Brian and Charles other. For screenwriters and actors David Earl and Chris Hayward and director Jim Archer, their 2017 adaptation short film of the same nameThis drama about creators and creativity plays out with quirky hijinks and humble personal growth, while also raising questions that are equally important, but much more relatable.

Brian (Earl), a loner and tinkerer living among the desolate beauty of the Welsh hills, has invented – almost by accident – a robotic companion. Charles (Hayward) is 7 meters tall and not funny, with a washing machine for the torso, topped with a weird mannequin head. Brian is happy with the company, especially after Charles taught himself English by reading dictionaries overnight. But instinctively, he also keeps his creation a secret, and he forbids Brian from leaving the house or meeting any other human. In the end, he was willing enough to allow Charles to tour his garden. “Does the outside stop at the tree?” asked Charles, with the interruption of an automated telephone line. Suddenly, a flock of birds burst into the air and flew away. Startled and confused, Charles turned around and challenged Brian: “Can birds do what they like?” Brian didn’t know how to respond.

Photo: Will Davies / Focus Features

Before this point, it was not clear what the movie was playing for other than to be amusing. Brian and Charles started as a sad simulation of the kind that has been popular ever since Office debuted on British television in 2001. After that, Archer seemed to forget to set up the simulation, but it was a forgivable slip, because then the characters took hold of the movie. As Brian, Earl walks around in his shack and speaks to the camera in an eerie voice about his useless inventions, such as the “shoe-making fishing net” he attaches to his feet. He was nothing more than a stupid joke until he found a mannequin head in a pile of trash. Staring at it aroused something in him: inspiration, fueled by deep loneliness.

The robotic companion he built goes dormant until, on a dark and stormy night, it mysteriously comes to life – and the movie with it. Charles is the heart and soul of the film. The cheapness and ungainness of his costumes are a good source of clumsy humor and surreal humour, but there’s also something endearing about him, especially among audiences. He, who can be seen with his flowing white hair, bow tie and slanted eyes are reminiscent of the eccentric from the TV Astronomer legend (and GamesMaster) Sir Patrick Moore. (Charles began life by voice in a radio phone show that Earl hosted as Brian, before Hayward made his own costumes to appear on stage.) A child’s loyalty. , all without breaking the odd speech synthesis beat for a second. He is a moving creation.

It took Brian longer to step out of the lone weird mold and focus. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about the journey toward self-respect that Charles certainly inspired his producer on. Brian and Charles follow the familiar comforting beats with peace of mind, even in Brian’s faltering romance with the shy Hazel (Sherlockby Louise Breakey) or a mildly dangerous plot involving a local bully family. Archer adopts the kind of light, simple style commonly found in indie cinema, but it’s clear that he likes to play that way secretly.

However, the warmth and tenderness with which the film explores the relationship between Brian and his work is real. Finally, the philosophical questions that filmmakers present in Brian and Charles even older than those of Frankenstein, and more about aging parenting and AI singularity: What does it mean to take charge of another life? How does it change you? And how do you ever hand over that responsibility? Archer, Earl and Hayward may not have the original answers to these questions – they cling to messages like “If you love something, set it free”. But the modest ambition of these messages does not make them untrue, and Brian and Charles Deliver them with simple grace.

Brian and Charles premieres in theaters on June 17.