Connect with us
Brian and Charles (2022)
Image: Focus Features

Film

Brian and Charles is the Offbeat Story of a Man Who Literally Made a Friend

Some Friendships Are Built to Last.

Tribeca Film Festival 2022
Brian and Charles Review

Brian and Charles gets off to something of a slow start, but once it gets going it’s a frequently hilarious and sometimes touching tale of a man and his robotic friend. 

Most stories about sentient robots are depressing and a sign of dystopian creep — or, alternately, some version of Frankenstein’s monster — but this one is much more cheerful. In fact, it’s the kind of movie that regularly gets dismissed as “twee,” — far from a rarity, especially when it comes to moves that come out of Sundance — although I almost always enjoy such films. 

Directed by Jim Archer and adapted from an earlier short film of the same name, the Brian and Charles duo actually got its start, of all things, as a stand-up comedy act. What they’ve made is a film that’s utterly uninterested in the sort of heady sci-fi concepts that usually show up in movies about robots, artificial intelligence, and sentience. But instead, it’s a mostly earnest comedy about friendship. 

Brian and Charles (2022)
Image: Focus Features

Brian and Charles debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the Audience Favourite award. The film, at least in its opening section, is presented in the style of a mockumentary, that sort of recalls the British version of The Office

David Earl, who also co-wrote the film, plays Brian, a Welshman, and crackpot inventor. He’s introduced as a lonely guy, sitting in his cluttered garage — he calls it “my infamous inventions pantry” — lamenting his circumstances. 

Despite a nearly completely unblemished record of his inventions never quite working out — there isn’t much demand in Northern Wales, it turns out, for tall cuckoo clocks — he puts together Charles (Chris Hayward), a robot who has been programmed to know the entire dictionary, and a lightning strike brings the robot to life. 

Charles is a fantastic creation. Made from a mannequin head, some type of lens for a right eye, and the body of a washing machine, he’s boxy, and facially anyway, he resembles the robot Robin Williams played in Bicentennial Man– and in one scene, where he dresses as a woman to hide out, he looks like another Williams character, Mrs. Doubtfire. 

Brian and Charles (2022)
Image: Focus Features

The two quickly get into adventures, while bonding over their shared love of cabbages, as Brian slowly gets up the courage to pursue a romantic prospect (Louise Brealey). Sometimes they clash when Charles develops the desire to explore the world, beyond their small Welsh town. Meanwhile, the two take on the town bully (Jamie Michie), who’s out to steal the robot. 

The film might not be for everyone, and some audiences just plain aren’t going to be on its odd and unique wavelength. 

But I found Brian and Charles a sweet and heartwarming tale that seems to come out of nowhere. 

The Tribeca Film Festival runs June 8-19. Visit the festival’s official website for more information.

Written By

Stephen Silver is a journalist and film critic based in the Philadelphia area. He is the co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and a Rotten Tomatoes-listed critic since 2008, and his work has appeared in New York Press, Philly Voice, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Tablet, The Times of Israel, and RogerEbert.com. In 2009, he became the first American journalist to interview both a sitting FCC chairman and a sitting host of "Jeopardy" on the same day.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: Clarke and Kubrick’s Odyssey of Discovery

Culture

Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world Deep Impact was a serious look at the end of the world

25 Years Later: Deep Impact was a Serious Look at the End of the World 

Film

The Best Movies of 1973 The Best Movies of 1973

The Golden Year of Movies: 1973

Culture

The Zone of Interest The Zone of Interest

Cannes 2023: Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is a Manicured Vision of Hell

Culture

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE review SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE review

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Is a Dazzling Web of Unbridled Creativity

Film

Jeanne Du Barry review Jeanne Du Barry review

Cannes 2023: Maïwenn’s Great Hair Goes to Great Lengths in Jeanne Du Barry

Culture

Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project Asteroid City: A Gimmicky Vanity Project

Cannes 2023: Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is a Gimmicky Vanity Project

Culture

Black Flies Gripping Black Flies Gripping

Cannes 2023: Black Flies— Gripping Descent into the Underbelly of New York’s Urban Misery 

Culture

Four Daughters Four Daughters

Cannes 2023: Four Daughters: A Family’s Journey From Goth to Niqab

Culture

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: La Passion de Dodin Bouffant:

La Passion de Dodin Bouffant: Surfeit Cooking Drama Most Inane Film at Cannes

Culture

BlackBerry movie review BlackBerry movie review

BlackBerry Is a Wonderfully Canadian Account of a Dying Tech Dream

Film

The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez The Mother Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez

Jennifer Lopez’s The Mother is Eerily Similar to Enough, But That’s Not a Bad Thing

Film

Godzilla 1998 Godzilla 1998

Godzilla at 25: When Hollywood Made a Manhattan Monster Movie, with Disastrous Results

Film

Sean Connery Sean Connery

60 Years Later, Dr. No Remains the Paragon of Bond

Film

The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Reloaded

20 Years Later: The Matrix Reloaded was Underwhelming, but Still Underrated

Film

Discovery channel Discovery channel

The Head-Scratching Moves Discovery Has Been Making

Culture

Connect