"Back to selectionSteven Soderbergh's films routinely fixate on money-who has it, who doesn't, what (illegally) acquiring it says about personal status and national identity within global capitalism. So, it's mildly surprising he hasn't set a film in the contemporary art world prior to The Christophers, though previous works deployed visual art for character definition (Laura San Giacomo's character in sex, lies, and videotape is a painter) or as a plot engine (the Imperial Coronation egg as Ocean's Twelve 's MacGuffin)."
"In the years following the "Christophers," Sklar's legacy took a hit when he assumed the catty Simon Cowell role on a reality-competition show Art Fight and sustained further damage when his swaggering, give-no-fucks sensibility eventually transgressed cancel-culture standards. When he's introduced, Sklar has been holed up in his posh, double-fronted London townhouse, reduced to recording Cameos while donning an affected beret to afford dinner."
Soderbergh often fixates on money and status within global capitalism. The Christophers situates that concern in the contemporary art world, using visual art as a vehicle to examine creative expression, legacy, and immortality. The film probes politics of appraisal and economic consequences of evaluating talent within an unregulated market founded on corruption and greed. It asks whether a 'soul' can transcend technique while refracting concerns about auteurism and Hollywood accounting. Aging British pop art icon Julian Sklar faces reputational decline after reality-competition television and cancel-culture backlash. Sklar survives by recording paid Cameos and living in reduced circumstances. Anxious about inheritance, Sklar's children Barnaby and Sallie hire Lori Butler.
Read at Filmmaker Magazine
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