Brian and Charles, directed by Jim Archer and written by its actors David Earl and Chris Hayward, began its life as a short film in 2017. The feature-length Brian and Charles recently premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The premise of a lonely Welsh inventor who builds a robot out of a dishwasher for companionship is the same as it was five years ago, and it feels additionally relatable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brian and Charles is a charming and moderately funny film, but it falters in its generic final act.
Filmed in a mockumentary style reminiscent of What We Do in the Shadows, Brian and Charles offers a subject matter fitting for the constraints of COVID-era independent filmmaking. Brian, the inventor, is a loner who only ventures into town for work and errands. The fictional film crew gives Brian someone to interact with and explains his odd lifestyle to the audience. Brian's homemade inventions offer consistent laughs, with shades of Wallace and Gromit's dry absurdity.
Charles is Brian's most absurd creation, a somewhat-intelligent robot whose very shape is amusing and whose obsession with cabbages makes for the film's most memorable running gag. Charles learns everything he knows from the dictionary and wants to see the world. However, Brian wants to keep Charles inside. There are a few layers of interesting themes at work in Brian and Charles. Brian's protectiveness over Charles is to some extent parental. It's possible that their arguments over safety are informed by the real-life struggles of raising children during a pandemic. Charles also helps Brian connect with other human beings, a story of artificial relationships leading to real ones akin to the likes of Lars and the Real Girl.
If the movie used them to deepen its main characters, Brian and Charles could have been something special. Sadly, the film's third act mostly abandons all this interpersonal drama and much of the mockumentary conceit for a kidnapping plot with a dull villain. Perhaps the action was meant to inject tension into this otherwise calm film, but it ends up becoming boring instead.
A film like this didn't even need a full-on villain. Brian and Charles' protagonists had enough conflict to build tension and stakes. If it had to use a villain, they needed to be someone who could match the quirkiness of the main characters as opposed to a generic bully. Even at its best, Brian and Charles was a very mild experience, enjoyable but neither hilarious nor emotional enough to rise to the level of a must-see. A powerful finale could have given Archer's debut feature film a push to stand out and measure up to its comedic influences. Unfortunately, the dull third act sinks the film and makes it harder to recommend as a whole.
Brian and Charles premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23. Encore screenings are available to stream on Jan. 25. Further release plans have yet to be announced.