Apr 11, 2026
3 min read
Christopher begins as a fictional tale, but ends up as a profound meditation on art.
Stephen Soderbergh directed a wonderful and surprising movie
The Christophers begins as the story of a fake, but ends as an intimate meditation on art.
Julian Sklar spends most of his working day acting on camera.No one is important;The curmudgeonly actor (played by Ian McKellen), the producer of Steven Soderbergh's new film The Christophers, is taking amusing cameos for enthusiastic fans.Facing the glowing iPhone, he begs about the reduced task with a happy pride.The viewer quickly learns that Julian keeps many unfinished crafts in his house that he refuses to finish or sell, and his greedy children want to get their hands on his box any way they can.His children have made a plan: hire someone to work as their father's assistant, finish the paintings secretly under his nose, and play.
This being a Soderbergh film, one might hear and expect that - after all, he directed Ocean's Eleven (and its two sequels).He's the master of the heist movie, and the scalper's worthless kids, Barnaby (James Corden) and Sally (Jessica Gunning), are engineering what turns out to be a crazy, intimate heist.They hire an unsuspecting con artist named Lori Butler (Michaela Coel).But what sets the film apart is how quickly it abandons the initial stakes.As Lori finds herself embroiled in Julian's strange, difficult retirement, the film turns darker than Shelley's typical slick story about a thief who steals the job of the century.It becomes a focus of the relationship between art and commerce.
The Christophers is Soderbergh's best-known story in years - and there's been a lot going on lately.Since returning from his eponymous career with 2017's Logan Lucky (an excellent heist film), the director has been working quickly, often on the fly, and jumping from genre to genre with ease.This stretch also included the horror Unsane and Kimi, the crime drama No Sudden Move, the spy romance Black Bag and the haunted house Presence.The Christophers presents itself as another indie spin-off and then takes a more likable path than Soderbergh's portrayal of low-life thieves.
Coel, however, is a wild card.While McKellen exudes an amiable presence with ease, Coel has a very unique screen presence that is as unsettling as it is fascinating.As for Julian himself, Laurie seemed rather empty.He believes he's an artist too, but not the kind of celebrity he was at his age;when he talks about his colorful past and comments about the contemporary art world being rubbish, he reacts with indifference.McKellen can make a great meal out of grumbling and whining, muttering an entire scene about nothing in particular;Invisible, but attractively faced.
The competition is evened out when Julian quickly realizes Lori's interest in the Christophers.The series of portraits shows Julian in the attic, sitting in an empty bathtub in a partial state.In this way, an engaging psychological dance begins to unfold between the two characters: Julian insists on destroying the works that his admirers around the world so eagerly know about, and Lori does not care about saving them.however, his motivation is more than the money he can make by finishing them off himself - which reveals Julian's secret as to why he no longer wants to deal with them.
Every time I think I've got screenwriter Ed Solomon's direction down, Christopher will make a dramatic shift, altering the balance between Julian and Lori or revealing new layers of Lori's intentions for including Julian in her life.McKellen puts in all the snippy bon mots and backhanded compliments Julianne does, but Coel is in Lowry's facade for everything that really matters, like the secret behind the commitment.Hoisted her for Julian.The charm of Julian is unsettling, a rustic elder who challenges the perception of his peers in his industry.The dynamism keeps the film from feeling too crowded or quiet, and the characters from feeling too distant and removed.
It would be great if Soderbergh created on a larger scale.He is one of America's most talented filmmakers and his blockbusters always stand out among Hollywood.But it's also worth noting his smaller efforts, which allow him to play in different sandboxes and show what makes him special as a director.The real steal of The Christophers is that Soderbergh brings a bittersweet story into the cinema while dressed as a fool.
