• Director: Steven Soderbergh
• Screenplay: Ed Solomon
• Cast: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, James Corden, Jessica Gunning
• Cinematography: Peter Andrews
• Editing: Mary Ann Bernard
• Score: David Holmes
• Genre: Black comedy-drama
• Runtime: 100 minutes

In ‘The Christophers‘, Ian McKellen gets material worth his time and energy. He plays Julian Sklar, a washed up once acclaimed artist. The pinnacle of his career well and truly over, he’s reduced to making a quick buck by filming Cameo videos for fans. These days, he’s better known for savaging up-and-coming artists on the reality television show ‘Art Fight’ than he is for his paintings.

Sklar’s unfinished collection ‘The Christophers’, portraits of a former lover, still attract attention. His estranged offspring (James Corden and Jessica Gunning) hover around like flies on a not yet dead animal. They know their father will leave them zilch in his will once he pops his clogs. The pair enlist a forger, Lori (Michaela Coel), to complete the last series of ‘Christophers’ – currently stashed away in the attic – to secure a hefty profit. Julian won’t even notice, he’s eccentric and his residence is cluttered with junk.

This is McKellen’s finest hour. His performance is itself similar to a painting; layer upon layer of emotion. There’s gold flecks of witty acerbicness on the surface. Then a thick coat of red hot contempt but as we go deeper, we find rich shades of deep blue sorrow. Ed Solomon’s superb script paints a picture of one man and his legacy torn asunder. Together with Steven Soderbergh’s direction, this gallery of thoughts on mortality and one’s oeuvre escapes its frame and becomes something entirely three-dimensional.

McKellen does most of the talking in this two-hander, rambling on at length. I could listen to him do so for hours. But it takes an equally adept actor to be able express just as much feeling whilst staying silent. Coel doesn’t need to say a word for us to read her mind in the moment – she stands toe-to-toe with her onscreen partner.

A work of art indeed.

My rating: 8 / 10