Monday Night Cinema

The Christophers

What is the value of art? Does it reside in personal expression? Cultural longevity? Financial worth? These questions fuel this gloriously entertaining comedy, directed by Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich) and written by Ed Solomon, starring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You, Black Mirror).

A mainstay of the London art scene since his starry breakout in the creative explosion of the 1960’s, Julian Sklar (McKellen) has drifted into a cluttered, self-imposed seclusion. His two estranged children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning) enlist Lori (Coel), a young painter and sometime-forger, to pose as an "assistant" and complete Sklar's fabled series of unfinished canvases - with a view to selling the forgeries after his death.

Coel and Ian McKellen are both superb in Steven Soderbergh’s slick and playful black comedy, expertly playing off each other as two stubborn, talented and frustrated characters caught up in an increasingly messy scheme.