Movie inventors are historically destined to be alone: Before he met Marty McFly, Doctor Emmett Brown of Back to the Future had only his dog — Einstein or Copernicus, depending on the time — to keep him company. Belle’s father in Beauty and the Beast, Maurice, is seen as the madman of the village. These people with creative minds and perhaps not very used to relationships with others have trouble coping with social life. It also happens to Brian (David Earl), star of Brian and CharlesJim Archer’s debut film, premiered in Italy at the Giffoni Film Festival 202 comes to theaters August 31, distributed by Lucky Red and Universal Pictures International Italy.
Inspired by the short film of the same name presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, Brian and Charles will hit Italian cinemas on August 31. Written by David Earl along with Chris Hayward (who moves and voices Charles), it’s the story of an inventor who lives in a small Welsh village and out of solitude builds a robot, Charles, with whom he can talk.
Unlike the rest of his inventions, Charles works well. Too much: Triggered by a storm, the machine quickly learns English and calls itself Charles Petrescu. Soon the robot becomes eager to discover the world, but Brian doesn’t want to lose it: both because he is afraid of what others might think, and because he would give up the only creature with whom he exchanges a few words.
Halfway between science fiction and comedy, Brian and Charles talk about the need for humans to communicate, albeit with a creature made of bolts and metal. In this case partly from a washing machine. Once you enter the world of these two unique characters, a real “strange couple”, tears and laughter will mingle. The relationship between people willing to trade at all costs and their robots is one that is explored in a different way in other movies: here are five to mend.
Star Wars by George Lucas (1977)
Many claim that in reality the real stars of Star Wars are the R2-D2 and C-3PO droids. And really, we don’t feel like blaming them: they’re a constant in the George Lucas saga. The droids were built by Anakin Skywalker with his own hands, and R2-D2 quickly became his closest ally and travel companion.
Short Circuit by John Badham (1986)
In the 1980s, science fiction was very strong in American cinema: if Charles learns the English language perfectly in a few days by reading the dictionary, the robot Number 5 in John Badham’s Short Circuit reads entire books in a few seconds. A skill that every kid wanted to have after seeing the film at the time.
One of the five robot prototypes that NOVA Robotics has built for the military, Number 5, like Charles, is hit by a movie after a thunderstorm and activated. Thanks to that shock, it’s like he develops his own consciousness and runs away from the lab he was in charge. In the escape, he ends up in the house of Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy), a young researcher. The design of Number 5 is very reminiscent of that of the Wall-e robot: another robot film that we will tell you about a little later. 
Lars and a Own Girl by Craig Gillespie (2007)
Directed by Craig Gillespie, who also directed Tonya with Margot Robbie and the recent Cruella with Emma Stone, Lars and a girl of their own boast one of the best performances by a then-not-known Ryan Gosling. In this film, the main character has problems interacting with other people, especially women.
When he takes home his new girlfriend Bianca, whom he says he met via the Internet, everyone is amazed: it is not a flesh and blood human being, but a real doll, or life-size dolls that can imitate, to touch. , the sensations of a real woman.
Concerned about the boy’s mental health, his relatives turn to a doctor, who advises them to spoil him. Lars and his family live in a small Wisconsin town, and the entire community is mobilized to treat Bianca as if she were a real girl. And paradoxically, it is the real doll that helps many of Lars’ fellow citizens.
Wall-e by Andrew Stanton (2008)
Here it is Wall-e, the little robot very reminiscent of the number 5 aspect of the movie Short Circuit. Unlike its colleague, Wall-e was not built for military purposes: it is a clearing machine, collecting waste and transforming it into cubes to be recycled. Wall-e (acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) isn’t alone: it’s one of many robots built for this purpose. In 2105, the planet’s pollution level reached a threshold no longer compatible with life and the Buy n Large Corporation (BnL) took over the Earth.
Unfortunately, the plan to clean up the planet doesn’t work: the robots are deactivated plan by plan, and humans only have to leave Earth, in search of another life in space aboard giant spaceships, led by the flagship Axiom.
In 2805 all sweepers are off. All but one: Wall-e, the latest in his series, who continues his work, has a cockroach as a friend and listens to old songs on the radio. When the robot unexpectedly finds a plant that has grown over centuries, it activates itself to reach the humans in space. On his journey he also meets another robot, EVE, much more modern, and if you were wondering if you can get emotional from the love story between two machines, the answer is yes.
Ex Machina by Alex Garland (2015)
Alex Garland’s debut film won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects, but its trump card is great writing and a great cast. Ex Machina is the story of a programmer, Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), who gets the chance to spend a week at the home of Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), CEO of the company he works for, BlueBook.
Bateman’s house is actually a big lab, full of cars that resemble humans in every way, such as Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno), who acts as his waitress, and Ava (Alicia Vikander), who has to test Caleb. of Turing, to understand if he has developed a conscience. The two soon create a relationship that goes beyond that between a scientist and a robot.
Source: Lega Nerd
