THE CHRISTOPHERS

Review: A forger is hired to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases by a once famous artist so that his children will receive an inheritance when he dies.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Actors: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning, James Corden, Daniel Fearn and Le Fil
Year: 2026
Genre: Comedy and Drama
Conclusion: 5/5
I want to start off by saying how confused I am that this film has been released at this time of the year and not in the awards season. I do hope that it will be remembered around awards time as it is a movie that ticks all the right categories for awards if not nominations. Given that Ian McKellen has never won a Bafta, I do hope that this is his time. In my opinion this is by far Ian McKellen’s finest performance for a long time. I also hope that Michaela Coel gets a supporting actor Bafta nomination. I think that Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel have great chemistry, which creates moments of humour and great emotion and it is obvious that they both really enjoyed making the film together. At the age of 87 Ian McKellen has given a masterclass screen performance. Great to see James Corden and Jessica Gunning doing a bit of a double act. However, I have to say that James Corden’s performance I found more convincing than Jessica Gunning’s. Directed by Steven Soderbergh who has worked on films such as Erin Brockovich (2000) and Behind the Candelabra (2013) and many others. In 2013 he announced his retirement!! I very much enjoyed the script written by Ed Solomon. Apparently, Solomon and Soderbergh wrote a script specifically for McKellen and Coel without knowing either actor personally or knowing if they would be interested in the project. Lovely to see a film that is set in London. I felt watching it that it could easily be a stage play. The film felt completely fresh in the way that there were very few takes. Considering it was a two hander all the way through I never once got bored or felt like it was going slow. This film explores the impact of age and also the complex dynamics of family relationships. Two of the main themes are the struggle for artistic authenticity and the challenges of leaving a lasting legacy in the art world.