Directed By Steven Soderbergh

Starring – Ian McKellan, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning

The Plot – The children (Gunning, James Corden) of a once famous artist (McKellan) hire a forger (Coel) to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they’ll have an inheritance when he dies.

Rated R for adult language

The Christophers Trailer #1 (2026)

POSITIVES

An experimental artist in his own right, full of versatile techniques and elaborate concepts, Steven Soderbergh feels like the perfect candidate to helm a story thematically pertaining to the volatile relationship between artist and critic, and while The Christophers isn’t the most dramatically endearing or unpredictably exciting film of the director’s storied career, it’s nevertheless a puckishly enlightening excursion about atonement and redemption that is blessed endlessly by a dazzling duo of superb performances driving the year’s most unlikely of dynamics. On the surface, one could effortlessly itemize the material to being one about second chances, but there’s a much deeper introspective unlocking to the articulated characters and their confrontational flaws that equally allows for communal interpretation towards questions of artistry, authorship, and especially legacy, in the same ways one pulls back meaningful layers to contrast their unique perspective on a hung painting, offering a quietly profound and circumstantially surmising portrait of generational wisdom that materializes as a result of the battle of wits continuously brewing between Julian and Lori, which is executed masterfully alongside tasteful humor and candid humility, the likes of which flesh out a surprising amount of historical context and upfront honesty that take this partnership in places that I truly didn’t expect. Because of such, the ice-breaking interactions between their characters certainly felt entertaining enough within this game of one-upmanship that never grew tediously exhausting or repetitive, on account of naturalized writing that transpired with honesty and purity, without the need to overcomplicate matters with the heavy kind of emotionality that would otherwise drown out the authenticity of the intention, regardless of their shifty dynamic giving way unearthed revelations that certainly conjure unshakeable feelings of resentment and remorse from them. Soderbergh’s subdued direction certainly makes screenwriter, Ed Solomon the star here, doubling down on the erroneous nature of humanity that generationally bind us, but even in the director’s selflessness, there’s still ample opportunity to flex his influence to the execution of some stunningly enacted sequences that move freely within the claustrophobic confines of this stuffy apartment, where Soderbergh’s love for seamlessly surveilling camera motions and ambitious long-takes makes the most of its unavoidable limitations, in turn granting us a deeper admirable significance to the integrity of the performances, for being able to pull off the kind of long-winded dialogue that stems from impeccable memorization. Without question, my favorite among Steven’s work here is the transitioning of one sequence that begins outside, before moving inside and up a three floor staircase, and though the extension of these takes allows us to stay in the moment of conversations that clash like a collection of waves between two stubbornly stoic characters, it’s the methods that Steven takes in meticulously navigating the claustrophobic confines of the staircase that is most impressive to the rendering of the capture, allowing for an impressive kind of seamlessness that not only speaks volumes to Soderbergh’s limitless experience as a commanding hand, but also cunning elaboration in the ways these sequences draw out tension as a means of accentuating the atmosphere. If all of these integral qualities weren’t enough to the movie’s sturdy foundation, the fancifully dreamy score from David Holmes breeds an essence of palpable mischievousness to moments rooted in moral complexity between its characters, readying worthwhile compositions that doesn’t exactly demand the attention of the audience, but rather earns it, on account of building presence without excess. Holmes crafts these glowing underlining’s that effectively allow the tone and tension to emerge and correspond earnestly with one another, rather than distractingly antithesize to dominate the frame, instead optioning for an absorbingly subtle quality that shapes the atmosphere with tender gentility, appraising a cinematic allure to a movie so dialogue-driven, which preheats the oven for Ian McKellan and Michaela Coel to truly cook. Vital to maximizing the limitations of the setting, McKellan and Coel deliver insightfully expansive and charismatically rich performances that are enacted with sharp-tongued dialogue, playful banter, and personalities of the stoically subdued variety, serving as a feeling out to this game of wits that drives so much of the film’s integrity. For McKellan, there’s a crotchety rascality to Julian that keeps him kindhearted despite so much upfront unforgivable honesty to his crude observations, and Coel, in her single biggest leading turn to date, articulates such an unflinchingly dry demeanor that makes her occasional emotional outbursts feel all the more earned and responsively satisfying, especially those responding to humor, granting the movie some surmising laughs that keeps the interactions engaging, despite my lack of artistic knowledge limiting my interpretability of what’s being discussed.

NEGATIVES

Even with The Christophers being this unforeseen gem about rediscovery and rumination of art, there are still some key weaknesses to the experience that keep this from being among the best films of the year, particularly the grogginess of its pacing, which rarely finds the kind of meaningful momentum to garner and maintain audience curiosity from scene to scene. This is especially the case during an ice-breaking introduction between Julian and Lori, where the truth between their artificial dynamic isn’t revealed until around the film’s forty minute mark, forcing the audience to remain one step ahead of the characters, in terms of knowledge, until Lori’s revelation comes to light, and considering we already know so much about the characters’ intentions, as well as their introspective feelings towards what each of them are attempting, it feels slightly arduous to wait for everyone to catch up to our enlightened vantage point, even with the sentimentality of the superior second half embodying more endearing elements about reflection that serves the characters well. Considering this is a 95 minute journey, there are simply some scenes and sequences that drown on for eternity, and as a result leave so much of the endearing banter frayed by deliberately directionless scenes that feel like they fail to serve a purpose to the grander motivation, leaving Soderbergh’s latest an occasionally testing exercise in persistent patience. In addition to the lack of consistency with the pacing, the momentum also takes a noticeable detraction while incorporating scenes of Julian’s children, where the quietly meditative allure of introspection gives way to moments that are more dependently driven by silly humor that feels like it didn’t belong in this kind of experience, in turn giving into those spontaneous indulgences, almost as a means of rewarding the patience of the audience with ineffective gags that mostly do little to reaffirm my commitment to the storytelling. This is not to say that Gunning and Corden don’t make the most of their limited screentime, as they effectively muster the familiarities of distant family driven by greed, it’s just that the occasional opportunities never amount to anything other than crucial speedbumps at the mercy of taking time away from such an interesting angle between Julian and Lori, and for my money the kind that I wish received less consistency among the film’s finished product, especially since McKellan and Coel are so evidentially on top of their respective games here. Finally, even the script from Soderbergh makes some unfulfilling avenues of exploit that convey his dependable exhaustion towards the product, such as some introduced and unpursued arcs and subplots that are introduced and dismissed with the velocity of a forthcoming twister. One of the many examples pertains to the motivation for The Christopher paintings, which comes at such a late time in the engagement that it leaves such a minimal opportunity to effectively flesh it out, and considering this angle alone gets us closer to Julian’s history than anything else throughout the film, it gives the impression that little about his past exposition served a vital role in the creative process of this movie’s helming, deducing the character to a single impression among a bigger picture that I wish received more time and energy to expansively flesh out.

OVERALL
The Christophers is a charmingly modest drama involving the broad strokes of introspection to fuel compelling conversations pertaining to artistry, authorship, and especially legacy, explored in the depths of two masterful performances from Ian McKellan and Micaela Coel unloading such humanity and humility to their complex characters. While the film will be an inevitable hurdle to remain investing for audiences seeking excitement and enticement to their dramatic experiences, it requires the patience and persistence of a painting to fully articulate the bigger picture, in turn supplanting the kind of piece de resistance for Steven Soderbergh that reminds us he’s still one of the greats, in terms of artistic versatility

My Grade: 7.5 or B