Brian and Charles

It is a quirky movie that grates on you after a bit. Buddy movie basically, coming of age for robot and creator, it was clever at 1st but became tiresome for me.

I appreciate what they were trying to do and normally this sort of thing works for me, but it just didn't register.

Drawing on the ever-present yearning for companionship, Brian and Charles takes a deep look into what makes someone human. After premiering as a short film in 2017, the idea was so well received that it was expanded to create the 2022 feature film. Shot as a mockumentary, inventor Brian Gittins (David Earl) lives his lonely life in a cottage on the outskirts of a Welsh countryside. After accidentally creating a quirky sentient robot named Charles (Chris Hayward), the pair develop a deeply rooted friendship while exploring life together. As a slice-of-life story, the relationship between Brian and Charles captures an innocence and sense of wonder within all of us. While David Earls delivers an emotionally excited performance, Chris Hayward takes his would-be-robot performance and gives it a refreshing sense of personality. While akin to a growing child, Charles is consistently enjoyable to watch, whether he is making you laugh, making you think, or making you cry. Elevating Brian's lonely life, the wacky fun they have each day had me longing to be there with them. Though Brian and Charles create a wonderful dynamic together, once other characters enter their lives, the story begins to lose some of its charm. Brian finds love in his quiet friend Hazel Louise Brealey), which begins getting in the way of his friendship with Charles. This disruption fits the story well, as this type of situation happens at times in life, but it is quickly overshadowed before it gets the chance to play out. Acting as the antagonist, Eddie (Jamie Michie) works to disrupt the fun of the titular duo, going to any length to take what he and his family want. Feeling almost unnecessary, the innocent and small-scope exploration of emotion felt as if it didn't need an enemy to tie it together, and instead, it feels as if it takes the place of otherwise needed development. Unfortunately, this leads the story to a misplaced feeling climax and a lackluster ending. Brian and Charles is a delightful film that adds a bit more than it needs but still leaves pleasant memories and plenty of reasons to watch. Though it isn't perfect, those imperfections do not overshadow the wonderful relationship between the two leads. As a very personal and condensed story, Brian and Charles craft a uniquely unorthodox friendship that excels at exploring the simple joys of life.

Sweet and gentle, quirky feel good movie.

Stumbled across this film and I'm sure glad I did. This is an instant favorite, it's wonderful in a very odd and wholesome way. Highly recommend!!!

Charles Petrescu is the warm and fuzzy doppelganger to the Terminator, HAL9000, or any other more probable manifestations of our Promethean writhings. A nice warm cup of milk tea under the soothing weight of an afghan blanket on a cold day, the film is endearing and soothing, and shows that, perhaps the most human thing of all, is an off screen voice over from someone who won the Audience Award at London Sundance 2022 and whose work was nominated for Outstanding British Film at the 2023 BAFTAs.

An inventor in Wales creates a robot to help him around the house and yard. Instead, he learns to how to live. A very British film about love, family, and friendship. I loved the humor and Hayward is hilarious as Charles. With its charm, one can overlook the probability of someone developing a robot with emergent properties. However, I didn't find the ending believable in the slightest. Still, if you enjoy heartwarming stories and English humor, I recommend it.

In a world where films are blessed for their amazing CGI and ability to fool the eye of the observer I began this film with some trepidation. Within the first 5 minutes I had top stop the film and google who was in it. I was convinced that CGI had been used used to make Ricky Gervais look totally unrecognizable. The similarities to Ricky's The Office character were hard to ignore (Google confirmed the lead actor and Ricky Gervais had worked together). So i settled down to watched with an open mind and was captivated by the whimsical, brilliantly written characters that started out as a journey of discovery and turned into a less violent, 'coward becomes a hero' nod to Straw Dogs. The voice of Charles was a perfect mix of robot and pathos and you felt for his frustration at being homebound when a huge world awaits to be discovered. I laughed out loud at some of the 'blink and you miss it' dialogue and nearly fell off my chair at Charles in deadpan voice saying 'you are fly tipping Brian'. Hollywood will remake this with a $200M budget and completely miss the point! A film about many things not least that a bird needs to be free, there is someone out here for everyone and good will win over evil...eventually!

I did have some chuckles and did enjoy a lot of this film but It's not a must watch and can see why the majority wouldn't enjoy this film. I did find myself anting to reach for my phone so take that as you will...

Commedia dai toni leggeri ed assurdi che prende un'idea più volte sfruttata nel cinema d'azione e di fantascienza e la pone sotto una luce totalmente nuova; ironica e basata sulla quotidianità. Un robot dall'aspetto buffo in un luogo desolato, con un padrone ai limiti della sociopatia; un quadro perfetto per creare dialoghi assurdi e simpatici che però non riescono ad essere altrettanto incisivi in termini sentimentali. Probabilmente volutamente, la commedia rimane su temi soft e non cerca mai di spingersi oltre nelle relazioni umane e non. Il risultato è sicuramente buono ma nemmeno indimenticabile; resta l'idea curiosa ed originale.