Director: Steven Soderbergh

Stars: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, James Corden, Jessica Gunning

Following his enjoyably breezy spy yarn ‘Black Bag’, Steven Soderbergh turns in another enjoyable England-set picture, this time around a black comedy set in the art world. McKellen is disreputable, unreconstructed artist Julian Sklar, whose celebrity/notoriety has spread beyond the art world due to his appearance as a judge on the TV talent show ‘Art Fight’ where he mercilessly rips into the works of young hopefuls. Coel is Lori, a disappointed art restorer making ends meet by working on a food delivery truck. She is approached by Sklar’s awful children Sallie and Barnaby (‘Baby Reindeer’s’ Gunnar and Corden, having a field day) with an enticing proposition: Lori posing as Sklar’s assistant to complete The Christophers, an unfinished set of his portraits which have acquired an almost mythical status. Following Julian’s death (he is very ill) they will sell them and split the proceeds.

Not quite the ‘Sleuth’-style two-hander battle of wits mooted in earlier scenes, but there is fun to be had watching the two leads bounce off each other. Coel’s Lori is compellingly watchful and wily but, inevitably, it is the fruitily provocative Sklar who gets the best lines. When he complains about his feckless children, Julian blames his ex-wife as she is the one who brought them up. The musings on art and identity feel underdeveloped but Soderbergh keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace.

David Willoughby

Follow David on Bluesky @davidwilloughby.bsky.social