The Christophers

A deft two hander from one of modern cinema’s most reliably entertaining directors, The Christophers is a delightful art heist treat from Steven Soderbergh (Black Bag, Erin Brockovich).

Lori (the incandescent Michaela Coel) is an artist with a sideline in art restoration. On her uppers, she’s let into a scheme by the children of reclusive artist Julian (Ian McKellen). They want her to sneak in, complete some unfinished masterworks of Julian’s, so they can reap the windfall once he’s off this mortal coil. She just needs to befriend the great man somehow…

The film becomes a sly dance between the two and their different agendas. Ian McKellen is on rascally good form, and finds his match in the wonderful Michaela Coel. An unlikely match, but an entirely delicious one, in this theatrical but never stagey story of art and life.