As I simply have not seen many movies (at all) in theaters over the last few months, I am making the choice to use “Recent Releases” to catch up on some of the more notable films I have not seen since 2020 but are sitting on my DVR waiting for me to watch them.  So I am going to mix them in to whatever I happen to see theatrically through the end of this year to see some of the titles I should have been seeing, and keep this column going.  It stretches the definition of  “Recent” a bit, but it needs to be done.  The first of these titles is a British comedy-drama about an inventor and his robot called Brian and Charles.

Jim Archer’s film — based upon a short film he made in 2017 — follows Brian (David Earl), a lonely inventor in a small hamlet in Wales.  Brian is a loner, and he is rather strange.  Most of his inventions are pathetic.  But one day he builds a robot, which comes alive one day when Brian is not home.  The robot knows what he is, accepts Brian as his creator, decides to call himself Charles, and sets about to learn all there is to learn.  This makes Brian very happy, until news of his invention begins to become known.  It brings him to the attention of Hazel (Louise Brealey), who is also a lonely soul, but also a local bully and his family, who decide to take Charles as their own.  This sets up a confrontation that, to the story’s credit, does not evolve into a Charles Bronson-like violent vendetta (although I rather hoped that it would).

This is a gentle, very likable fable, not particularly believable but endearing nonetheless.  The design of Charles, the robot, is ingenious and kind of hilarious.  His voice, provided by co-writer Chris Hayward (with lead actor David Earl) is perfect for the part, and definitely hilarious.  The story spoofs the Frankenstein legend and its descendants, like Johnny 5 in Short Circuit, yet with a wholesome sweetness that is sometimes irresistible.  The moral of the story is rather heavy-handed, involving the bullying that Brian and his robot face, but even that is handled pretty well.  All in all this is a solid three star movie.

But I didn’t rate it three stars.  One element prevented me from doing so, and I can’t figure it out.  There is, evidently, some documentary filmmaker or two that are documenting Brian’s life.  Brian looks into the camera to explain himself and even asks the filmmaker a question or two as the story moves along.  The filmmaker is present before Charles is even imagined and is there for all the adventures up until Charles goes off on his own to see the world.  But how?  Why?  It drove me nuts waiting for the filmmaker to become some important part of the story, a key element of the action, because it seemed to be necessary somehow.  But that never happens.  His presence is never explained, and that almost ruins the story for me.  It breaks the “fourth wall” and raises far too many questions that do not need to be asked.  I really wish this film had been edited like a straight, ordinary movie because its story is crooked and extraordinary.  It doesn’t need a “mockumentary” element, if that is what the intent is.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  31 August 2024.