Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain We actually tried to change as little as possible,” says Archer. “I was worried about changing too much and losing the charm of what we had in the short.”

Director Jim Archer does a good job of letting his star duo stew in their oddness, but fails to give the work aesthetic and narrative consistency. For example, the opening sequence plays as a faux documentary, to the point that the camera operator even asks Brian a question, yet by the middle the camera operator ceases to be a character. Now complete and ready to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world, Brian and Charles is getting its first bow on Jan. 21. Sundance’s shift to virtual sadly means Charles won’t be able to enjoy an awkward robotic shimmy down a red carpet just yet, although Hayward says he might “make a special appearance” in a live Q&A. Brian & Charles is the little sci-fi comedy that triumphs with so little. It’s a cute and heartwarming tale about what it means to be human, treating hefty topics of humanity with a light air of simplicity. Think about how charming it is to have a film where a lonely inventor crafts a sentient robot and merely wants to bring joy to the world. This is an adorable little picture if you’re willing to go along for the ride. There is no cash or another alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions. Shares Out now to own on Blu-ray and DVD, the delightful comedy Brian And Charles. Starring David Earl, Chris Hayward, Louise Brealey and directed by Jim Archer, fancy winning a Blu-ray copy courtesy of MediumRare Entertainment?

This is Charles (Chris Hayward), a latterday Tin Man with wildly mismatched body parts and a glitchy Max Headroom voice who wouldn’t seem out of place in a Wallace and Gromit animation. “I am your friend,” declares Charles, whose twitchy feet are made for dancing and whose wonder at the world around him (“How far does the ‘outside’ go? Does it stop at the tree?”) weirdly recalls that of the young survivor from Room. Brian thinks its best to keep Charles (who grandly adopts the surname “Petrescu”) a secret from the locals, and so the pair spend their days playing darts, cooking cabbages, riding bikes, having pillow fights and watching TV travel shows that give Charles a wanderlust to visit places like “Hono-loop-loop”. Brian is established as a dorky inventor of a small village, mostly keeping to himself. His many inventions on his farm are revealed in a documentary style where cameras follow him around. Though he specializes as a local handyman, he fancies himself a clever man who always thinks up new ideas in his workshop. Sadly, most of his inventions go up in smoke. This happens quite literally when his idea for a flying bike has him scrambling for a fire extinguisher. While sorting through junk piles, he finds enough parts to make himself a robot. It’s uncertain how much experience Brian has with robots but also unimportant. All that matter is that one stormy night leads to his boxy creation of a robot coming to life, choosing the name Charles. It just had a really, funny weird intonation,” says Hayward. “And it took Rupert a little while to type the answers, so when he’s talking to David there’s always a little weird, awkward pause.”

It is clear director Jim Archer and the writers' Earl and Hayward, who play the main roles, invested seriously in the film so that you are effectively charmed and not alienated by it being utterly daft which to an extent it is. Then to top it off just to add some more charm, maybe even ladle some on, adding into the mix Hazel, sweet and socially awkward like Brian, played with some skill by Louise Brearly.Brian is a lonely inventor who lives in a remote valley in North Wales, spending his days in his dilapidated workshop constructing bizarre objects nobody wants. Then one day, Brian builds a robot. Made out of an old washing machine and a battered mannequin head, the 7ft tall machine is a walking, talking lifeform with the mannerisms of an inquisitive child, keen to know about its surroundings and how everything works. Initially, Brian and Charles have a great time together, the robot being the perfect antidote to Brian’s loneliness. However, as their relationship develops, things become strained.

But this is no high-tech, super realistic humanoid creation. Brian’s lanky android — who almost immediately settles on the name Charles Petrescu (because of course) — is built from a washing machine (and visibly so) and the head of a bespectacled, gray-haired mannequin missing an eye, and speaks in a comically crude robotic voice. The drama in what would definitely be a slight and odd tale comes from the antagonists Eddie, his wife and twin daughters, embodying meanness, dishonesty and an external ever-present threat. Refreshingly it is this pressure that puts a strain on the ups and downs of Brian and Charles’ relationship and not the usual contrivance of a romantic partner doing this. While Archer says it all depends on whether the “world likes the film,” he admits he has been playing with another text-to-speech voice that could lend some inspiration: a female robot.Munday, Rob (20 January 2022). "Sundance Film Festival 2022: Talking 'Brian and Charles' with director Jim Archer". Short of the Week. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022 . Retrieved 29 January 2022. After several years on the circuit, the next obvious leap for the pair was a short film, with Archer — who they’d known for a while and had already made several comedy sketches — recruited to direct.

A film like this works so well due to its dry nature that slowly warms the heart over time. I’ll be honest Brian and Charles's chemistry felt too simplistic at first. After some time, however, you get to know and love these people who only have the best intentions and ultimately want some love in their life. There’s something so perfect about the imperfect design of Charles in this regard. The design of Charles makes him look more like someone’s failed attempt to build a Jim Broadbent android. He wobbles, has no expression, and speaks in a monotone computer voice, making it sometimes difficult to gauge his emotions. And yet he becomes a loveable character for being such a simplistic design restricted from specific displays of affection. It’s an idyllic existence, ecstatically captured in a montage played out to the Turtles’ Happy Together. Yet all too soon, electronic adolescence dawns and Charles starts to resemble a stroppy teenager, albeit one whose tiny head looks more like that of an eccentric professor and whose wayward manner will strike a chord with anyone who has experienced older relatives succumbing to the strange infantilisation of Alzheimer’s. Earl had been playing his blundering creation Brian Gittins as part of his stand-up routine for over a decade, which progressed to an internet radio show where people would call in (Earl says he would play a “madder version” of his character). The film is neither taxing on your emotions or going to cause you to cry with laughter but making you gently smile for the majority of its runtime at the silly shenanigans framed amongst some stunning and inventive shots of remote Welsh countryside means, to be frank, it is a hard heart that sets against Brian and Charles.Charles, it should be noted, is literally just Hayward, barely hidden inside a giant square cardboard box with clothes stretched over the top, moving the mannequin’s mouth when he speaks. The puppet’s height, plus the absence of any eyeholes, meant he had little idea what was going on around him during the shoot. The humble robot has served as a faithful companion in films since the early days of cinema. But very few are 7 feet tall, look like an emotionless old man who has swallowed a washing machine whole, talk like a toddler on a Speak & Spell and enjoy eating cabbages.