🍿43: Brian and Charles
This week SP features one of the best robot films ever made and we learn a surprising fact about the first woman to appear in a cinematic sex scene 👀
“If you've created a conscious machine, it's not the history of man. That's the history of gods.”
~ Ex Machina, 2015
Somewhere, over the rainbow…
We’re in the very middle of Blockbuster season and it’s around this time of year that I start looking forward to all the autumn/winter releases to come. There are some really great films on the horizon, including:
The Menu (starring Anya Taylor Joy and Ralph Fiennes)
See How They Run (starring Saoirse Ronin and Sam Rockwell)
Three Thousand Years of Longing (starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba)
Crimes of the Future (starring Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortenson)
Don’t Worry Darling (starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles)
There’s also bound to be a few that I’ve missed. What films are you most looking forward to this year? Let us know in the comments below.
Now for the headlines:
There are “conversations” taking place about producing a sequel to this summer’s blockbuster hit, Top Gun: Maverick. Read more.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are set to return as Sherlock Holmes and Watson in a third film. Read more.
Martin Scorsese is to be honoured by the Location Managers Guild for his efforts to support the work of location professionals. Read more.
Monty Norman, the man who composed the James Bond theme has passed away. Read more.
Salty Popcorn is 100% free, but if you enjoy SP, please consider buying us a cinema ticket for just £5 per month - or a bunch of tickets for just £30 per year. Thank you!
Upcoming Releases
The Silent Twins
UK: TBC* // USA: 16 September
Based on an incredible true story, Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance play June and Jennifer Gibbons, twin sisters who only communicated with each other. As a result, they created a rich, fascinating world to escape the reality of their own lives.
*At the time of writing, we couldn’t find a definitive UK release date. Hopefully, it’s the same as the US.
Spin Me Round
UK: 19 August // USA: 19 August
A woman (Alison Brie) wins an all-expenses paid trip to her company’s gorgeous “institute” just outside of Florence, where she is given the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s charismatic owner.
Fact of the week
For last week’s fact, we talked about the 1933 Czech film Ecstasy, the first film to feature a sex scene. But it wasn’t until earlier this week that we learnt the film’s female lead, Hedy Lamarr, was also one of the most influential inventors in modern history.
Along with her screenwriter husband, Gene Markey, Lamarr filed a patent (known as Patent# 2,292,387) in 1941 for a ‘secret communications system’. That patent became the basis that made WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and WLAN technology possible. Lamarr is in fact known as ‘The Mother of Wifi’!
Review: Brian and Charles
Star rating:
4 (out of 5)
Where to watch:
USA: Amazon Prime ($5.99)
UK: Cinemas
Runtime:
1hr 30m
Director:
Jim Archer
Blurb:
Brian (David Earl) is a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet…
The review (NO spoilers):
Based on a short film of the same name (which you can watch here), Brian and Charles is one of the sweetest and quirkiest independent films to have come out of the UK in a long time. Penned by and starring David Earl and Chris Hayward, this oddball mockumentary might not appeal to a mass audience, but it has all the ingredients of an instant cult classic.
While there are some parallels to be drawn between Brian and the characters for which Earl is best-known for—most notably his work with Ricky Gervais in Derek and After Life—it comes as a relief that Brian is much more than just a creepy weirdo. He is in fact a very likeable character!
But what is perhaps most refreshing about this film is that it doesn’t follow the usual tropes of a typical sci-fi film, let alone one about robots. The audience doesn’t question the science behind Charles and the film doesn’t pose any philosophical questions about whether AI is equal to or can achieve sentience.
Instead, Brian and Charles is remarkably simple—a point illustrated by the regular shots of the Welsh countryside—that focuses on little more than the relationship between a lonely man and his creation. From this seemingly simple idea, Earl, Haywood and director Jim Archer have, like Brian, created an unassuming masterpiece.
I don’t often agree with the reviews of Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw, but he hit the nail on the head when he said: “It isn’t easy to develop a sketch-length idea into a feature film and not easy to pivot from ironic comedy into dark Straw Dogs-style menace[…]. But Earl, Hayward and Archer have managed it. It’s the bromance of the year.”
If you do get a chance to see this film, stick around for the end credits (all of them), you won’t be disappointed.
Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.
If you liked Brian and Charles…
The Peanut Butter Falcon
2019 | UK: Amazon Prime (free for subs) // USA: Peacock / Amazon Prime ($2.99)
At its core, Brian and Charles is a film about the blossoming of a friendship between two outcasts, which makes Peanut Butter Falcon not all that different. While this is less quirky and more dramatic, it’s still a comedy of sorts.
In the next issue:
A Chiara
UK: 15 July // USA: 27 May (‘22) | Watch the Trailer
