The children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they’ll have an inheritance when he dies.

The prolific Steven Soderbergh’s latest film is ‘The Christophers’, a black comedy drama about an elderly painter and a scheme concocted by his children to make money off his work after his death. It stars Ian McKellen as Julian Sklar, an eccentric artist whose reputation has faded over time in large part due to his lack of new work, and in part due to some things that will be revealed as part of the plot. He spends his days filming Cameo videos for his fans, living alone in a large and cluttered London townhouse, with his relationship with his children strained to say the least.

Sklar’s reputation was in part built on a series of paintings he made many years ago based on his lover at the time, known as the ‘Christophers’, however he never finished the series and in art circles, the completed works are highly sought after. His despicable children (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) spot an opportunity to hire another artist to finish the ‘Christophers’ before Julian dies, enabling them to sell them for a lot of money after his death. The problem is only Julian knows where the ‘Christophers’ are and he is exceedingly hostile to any schemes or attempts to get at them.

Enter Michaela Coel’s Lori, hired by the siblings to become Julian’s assistant, find the paintings and finish them behind his back, with there being reasons as to why she goes along with this scheme that will be revealed. The film isn’t really about these secrets and it gets them out of the way relatively early on, and is more of a showcase for McKellen and Coel to deliver an impressive two-hander as they dance around each other and the truth. One thing I particularly liked about ‘The Christophers’ is that you don’t really know for a long stretch which direction its going to go in, which is in part down to Soderbergh’s effortless versatility across genres – it could have became a dark psychological thriller or a lighter caper and I’ll not reveal too much about how it plays out.

McKellen is just superb and immensely watchable throughout, and you can tell he’s having fun, while Coel is an excellent foil and this is a better film than her last two-hander in ‘Mother Mary’ (out a few weeks ago). I enjoy most of Soderbergh’s work and his light directorial touch is apparent here, with limited takes and handheld camera work bringing the best out of his two leads, and the script (from Ed Solomon) has enough meat and intrigue in the personal relationships that develop to hold my interest. Go and see it for McKellen and you’ll find ‘The Christophers’ is a more than enjoyable little drama.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt34966562/