Out of the Toronto Film Festival, Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel spar in smart Steven Soderbergh original.
A blistering, brutal performance from Ian McKellen as Julian Sklar, a once-brilliant painter who sullied his name over time with awful behaviour on a junky TV show called Art Fight. Now, separated from the art world he looks down on in his crumbling, yet expansive, London townhouse, he makes money through embarrassing Cameo videos.
He’s cursed with two vile, talentless children (Baby Reindeer’s Jessica Gunning and James Corden) who have little to no real relationship with him, but they’re obsessed with the money they might still be able to squeeze from him.
Time – “Simultaneously meticulous and casual, it’s the kind of movie only a master filmmaker could have made—though it’s doubtful Soderbergh, perpetually moving away from one movie and toward the next, thinks of himself as a master filmmaker at all.” (full review here)
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) – “Soderbergh, once again acting as his own cinematographer under the alias Peter Andrews (and editor, with the nom de plume Mary Ann Bernard), finds his own way of keeping the camera swirling and twirling, electrifying lengthy, densely composed monologues that require some visual energy to keep them from landing with a cinematic thud.” (full review here)
Rolling Stone – “Had The Christophers just been a cross-generational punch-up, the sort of flinty showdown designed to throw off pleasurable sparks, you’d still walk away content. It remains a conduit for two of the best performances you’ll see all year. But Soderbergh and his two stars want to concentrate on the embers, what fans them and what keeps them burning.” (full review here)
