Release Date – 15th May 2026, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Director – Steven Soderbergh
Art restorer Lori (Michaela Coel) is hired by the children (Jessica Gunning, James Corden) of famous artist Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) to forge unfinished masterpieces for the sake of their inheritance.
Steven Soderbergh has been quoted a lot recently about embracing and using AI in his upcoming films. It feels particularly a shame that a director such as himself, having become known for making low to mid-budget crowdpleasers with quick turnarounds, would make headlines with such comments after making a film all about the humanity and emotion of art, and our relationship to it. The expression that it allows for. As Ian McKellen’s Julian Sklar revisits unfinished masterpieces, the third set in his Christophers series, he throws paint and an assortment of art supplies at the canvas with a mixture of intent and emotions.
He wishes to destroy them, wanting to remove a part of the past that’s been sat covered up on the top floor of one of his neighbouring homes for 25 years. Having hired new assistant Lori (Michaela Coel), he asks her to do the job, not knowing that she’s been hired by his children (Jessica Gunning, James Corden) to forge the remainder of the works in the hope they’ll be worth millions by the time inheritance comes around. The relationship between Lori and Julian is punchy and fluctuates as much as their bonds with art itself – Lori works part time as a restorer when not working in her food van or making her own private work – and throughout McKellen and Coel are magical, appearing to relish the opportunity to perform with each other.
Soderbergh makes a rather quiet film, much quieter than expected from the trailer which makes The Christophers look much more comedic than it is. One that’s reflective, with a scattering of likable chuckles here and there, largely in the form of quips and jabs from Sklar when he’s not recording Cameo messages for £249, making another use for his easel for him to do so. There’s a lot hidden for him, as there is for Lori, that gradually unravels over the course of the film, although intentionally not in its entirety, and certainly not in upfront style. Yet, you can see how much is held in by both characters from their pasts. Leaking through in their interactions and resentments.
During the scene where McKellen attacks the canvas we never actually see the development of the picture itself, only his face, actions and the back of the easel. The Christophers isn’t a film about the art itself, but our relationship with it and what we put into it. From the start to the very end. Subtly done and finely constructed it’s a welcoming look at creation and the feelings that go into, and come from, it; and how those can linger and change over the years. Gently told with a gliding pace, it’s easy to be captured by the performances and the details gradually unveiled by them and the screenplay. With effects and crafted images lasting in the mind long after the credits have finished rolling.
A gentle and amusing look at changing relationships with art and creation with two excellent performances from Coel and McKellen who naturally bring out the subtle and layered unravelling details of their characters.
Just A Little Bit Random 