The Christophers: Movie Review

Cast: Sir Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning, James Corden
Director: Steven Soderbergh

American director Steven Soderbergh's latest goes into the high-stakes world of art, with a commentary on creativity, the crippling power and effect of criticism and the cost of legacy.

In a commanding performance, Sir Ian McKellen plays former art enfant terrible Julian Sklar, a master painter who's in the twilight of his career. Sklar gained notoriety in swinging London for a series of portraits known as The Christophers but has yet to finish a third run of them, despite everyone's insistence and demands.

 

Wallowing in his dingy London flat, Sklar spends his days donning a beret and recording cheap off-the-cuff video messages for would-be art students whose parents have requested them. But when his children Sallie and Barnaby (Baby Reindeer's Jessica Gunning and Gavin and Stacey's James Corden) hire art restorer Lori (a poker-faced Michaela Coel) to pose as Sklar's assistant, they have another motive in mind - steal the Christophers they believe are hidden in Sklar's flat.

Eschewing a traditional heist movie for a lean verbal jousting match, Soderbergh sets the stage for what emerges as a tense, clever and verbally heavy piece that plays to the dynamics of a power struggle. 

When Lori first meets Sklar, she barely gets a word in, as he dismisses, scolds and scoffs at her, saying he doesn't want an employee who's a fan. But as The Christophers plays out, there's more of a hidden motive that comes to the fore - something which proves to be as compelling as the canvas the movie's painted on.

And while Coel is impressive, she has to hold her own against a McKellen who's rarely been better. He stays the right side of monstrous with his Sklar, whether it's demanding extra money from his video subscribers for an air autograph, dismissing his "harridan" children or bellowing at Lori over her claims of a broken throuple (“I was once in a throuple, back when it was merely called infidelity,” he chides), he holds the screen and deliciously delivers writer Ed Solomon's script.

The Christophers may have a little to say about legacy, but based on this greatly entertaining double act, neither McKellen nor Coel need worry about theirs.