18 May 2026 – Cinema club went to see ‘The Christophers’ at The Showcase cinema today. The synopsis of the film was….
“The children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they’ll have an inheritance when he dies.”
There were many twists and turns as the film progressed, and the final outcome was unexpected.
The leading members of the cast were: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden; and the film was directed by Steven Soderbergh, who is well known for directing Traffic and Erin Brokovich, but also multiple other films. The screenplay was written by Ed Soloman, who is a writer and producer known for his work on ‘Men in Black’, ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ and ‘Now You See Me 2’
The plot, setting and acting was quick fire and excellent, with much of the action occurring in the artist’s house and studio. As a group, we were in agreement in enjoying the film, finding it very entertaining, and we particularly enjoyed the twists and turns found in the film, and would recommend it to others for this reason.
Mark Kermode referred to the various descriptions of the film by others as ‘black comedy’, melancholy old couple movie and he added ‘very late in life coming of age story’. He particularly enjoyed the chemistry between Ian McKellen and Coel, and both the direction and the camera work (undertaken under a Pseudonym) by Steven Soderbergh, pointing out the ‘maximum of 3 takes’ by Soderbergh, helping to keep the movie fresh by the actors. He thoroughly enjoyed the film.
I gave it a score of 8, whilst IMDB gave it 6.8, and the Rotten Tomatoes score was 9.5 (95%).
Fraser