The Christophers

[MsAlignment]

Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen - but I’m not sure how I feel about the actual film. (Unusual experience being in a full auditorium though.)

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/christophers-steven-soderbergh-pits-ian-mckellen-against-michaela-coel-film-rich-with-ideas-about-art-criticism-forgery

I looked at the reviews and thought it sounded a bit boring?

I watched the trailer last night and it didn’t really grab me tbh.

I’ve got tickets for Monday.

I was never once bored - but I realised afterwards that it does demand a different repertoire of responses to those usually sufficient for watching a film. (Actually ‘Rose of Nevada’ is the same in that sense, though a completely different type of film.)

Reviews mention the dialogue - but I’d say it’s also very much a film about looking - how things look, and how things are hidden.

(Oh, and Lori was wearing a raincoat exactly the same colour as the kagool I wore to the cinema. 😄)

I was very excited about seeing it. Just because Michaela Coel. And to compare her in this to ‘Mother Mary’. But really, when you’re an actual living genius and your own TV show has remade the medium of television fiction - I wonder if you ever find a film script written by someone else that even approaches what you can actually do?

I enjoyed it and found it interesting. But I wouldn’t rush to watch it again or urge others to seek it out

Seriously, that a really useful review for me, thank you.

It's now on my "peeing down with rain only" list.

@Imdunfer oh dear, I feel I’ve made it sound worse than it is. It’s unusual and interesting, well made, great cast and acting and happened to be on at exactly the right time at my local cinema 😹 I suppose it’s a bit pretentious but I wonder if that isn’t the nature of film (getting existential).
I liked it but didn’t love it.

Strangely I feel it maybe wasn’t pretentious enough. The narrative was too linear and unchallenging - leading to an inevitable ‘revelation’ towards the end. I’d have preferred that to be integrated within the whole film. (Sorry, trying not to spoilerise!)

The Cole / McKellen combo sounds quite intriguing but in recent films I’ve felt he was miscast (too old and frail for those parts). Overall it sounds like a ‘wait for it to come on streaming job’ rather than spend a tenner at the cinema for a ticket.

Oh, he was perfectly cast in this …

I think it was a good little British film which let the viewer do some thinking but wasn’t trying too hard to be challenging. I think Ian McClellan fitted the part well.

I have just seen this and felt it was a waste of time. The performances were good but there wasn’t enough plot for me. I preferred the director’s previous film.

I saw a critic describing it as more of a play and I think I would have enjoyed it more seeing it in the theatre. Actors are good, but not enough plot for me either.

This, @MariaMagdalenaa? I almost linked it yesterday but would rather not encourage the sort of male reviewer who sees a successful black woman and thinks ‘panther’ …

Finally an actor who can keep Ian McKellen on his toes — this is a delicious pairing

https://www.thetimes.com/article/b9a99e80-567b-4c09-8f7b-4e95359fd18b?shareToken=4e28acdeeec73bbbed502cabf2afcf0f

I agree, and I also went on a whim because it was on next door at a convenient time and I wasn't doing anything else. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and the ending especially - I thought the two leads were very well matched and probably could have carried the whole thing without us seeing much of the other characters on screen at all.

It did feel like a play, but that's fine by me (I always think that about Steel Magnolias and Reservoir Dogs too).

Saw the trailer for this and really fancied it, might wait for it to come to streaming instead.

Yes this was it. Not sure what you mean by panther sorry.

It’s in the first paragraph …

(But perhaps people reading this aren’t old enough to remember all the ways Venus and Serena Williams were described during their careers?)

I enjoyed it but I think because after reading the comments on here I wasn’t expecting much. There was a lot of people in cinema. Shame I was sat in front of two ladies who seemed to forget that they weren’t at home on the sofa and were in a cinema. Chat chat chat.

I enjoyed it but it was marred by the "plot" making zero sense. I won't say why, because of spoilers.

We went last week. I enjoyed it, DH not so much. The two leads were excellent, and I really liked the way their relationship evolved, not in a father-daughter predictable sort of way. It was slow but evocative. Probably wouldn't watch it again but I'm glad I did.