Brian and Charles Review

Brian and Charles is a mockumentary based on a short film with the same name. This quirky British film that focuses on the relationship between an inventor and his robot.

Brian Gittins (David Earl) is an inventor of useless gadgets. He lives in a cottage in rural Wales. Brian gets inspiration to make a robot and miraculously, the robot has self-awareness. The robot calls himself Charles Petrescu and Brian finally has a companion. However, their relationship becomes strained because Brian tries to keep Charles at his farm, whilst Charles wants to explore the wider world.

Brian and Charles premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in London and won the Audience Favourite award. The film can be best described as an odd British film about British oddballs.  The mockumentary style made Brian and Charles seem like a TV series. The mockumentary style had been used for The Office, This Country, and People Just Do Nothing. Comparisons to This Country would be particularly fitting since both properties show the less glamorous side of countryside and were proudly regional. This Country was a West Country product, whilst Brian and Charles highlighted its Welshness.

Brian and Charles also shared the fly-on-the-wall approach of the forementioned TV shows. The film just followed Brian during his day-to-day life and had a guerrilla style to it. The aim was to give the film a naturalist feel. However, as a comedy, Brian and Charles was a light offering. There were many chuckle worthy moments like the oxygen draining helmet, Charles acting like a excited dog, and Charles becoming disobedient. The final act was when the film was at its most fun because it turned into an The A-Team style adventure. However, there were no belly laugh moments like in the greats of the mockumentary genre like This is Spinal Tap and What We Do in the Shadows.

Where Brian and Charles stood out was its heart. The focus on their relationship between a man and his robot. Before Charles’ manufacture, Brian lived a lonely, solitary life where he just invented and tinkered. Charles gave Brian a zest for life because the robot acted as a friend, child, and companion.

There was a sweetness when they were together like when they played darts and Charles gave Brian a child-like drawing. Charles even gave Brian the nudge to interact with Hazel (Louise Brealey), a woman who clearly had feelings for Brian. However, as the film progressed Charles became more rebellious and acted more like a teenager longing for freedom. When Charles pledged for help from Brian it brought back memories of Short Circuit 2.

A notable aspect of Brian and Charles was its PG rating. Mockumentaries are often geared towards adults, so often have humour to cater to that audience. Brian and Charles was a much cleaner film because there was little swearing and violence and the threat was mild. It wasn’t a family film, or at least it wasn’t aimed towards family because of the tone and direction, but it does make a change for to see a comedy that didn’t use risqué humour.

Brian and Charles is an acquired taste. As a comedy Brian and Charles was a lightweight, but it was a sincere little film due to its characters and their relationship.