My second Michaela Coel-starring art-centred film in as many days, the ever-prolific Steven Soderbergh offers up a small-scale comedy with plenty to sink your teeth into.

Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), an artist at heart who works in a food truck by day is approached by the children (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) of the once-great artist Julian Sklar (Ian McKellan) with a proposal of forgery. The plan is for Lori, under the guise of a cataloguing assistant, to secretly finish the third series of ‘Christophers’ – the previous series of which had sold for millions – before hiding them back in Julian’s house to be discovered and sold after his death. Lori’s reticence to partake in forgery is overruled by her complicated history with Julian’s work and a meeting with him when she was an art student (plus his public downfall and effective cancellation – he now makes money doing cameos); she is sold on the act as revenge. However, as she begins her mission, her relationship with Julian, and his relationship to the hidden half-started paintings begins to shift in unpredictable ways.

Soderbergh has crafted an involving and engrossing piece that sacrifices neither character or ideas in favour of the other. A talk-focused piece, it could almost be a play but Soderbergh maintains a cinematic feel in his cool, calm and collected camerawork. The dialogue is engaging and frequently (particularly Julian’s offhand remarks). As Julian and Lori both reveal and find out more about each other and their opinions, the dynamics shift back and forth; there is a wonderful push and pull where power, respect and amicability shift constantly. This is not a film of formula or convention and these changing dynamics and their subsequent effects on the plot keep the film unpredictable and ensure it doesn’t fall into the schmaltzy trap a lesser film would indulge in. It keeps you invested and even almost on the edge of your seat; quite the feat for a film almost solely set in one location and predominantly constructed from conversation. It is spiky and full of life.

Mckellan is absolutely magnetic in the role, relishing monologues delivered the way so few actors can. His Julian is no cartoonish grumpy old man, he is layered and self-centred in a way that is challenged by Lori, her story and her opinions. He is entirely captivating and makes the appearance of Julian’s inner conflicts and changes in attitude believable. Coel serves as a steady foil, a character who is assertive and stands her ground but without the self-imposed sense of grandeur of the old great artist (she is much more reserved in displays of emotion). Their sparring is exciting, their respective takedowns fiery, their reconciliations hard-won. Whilst the dialogue feels weighted towards Julian, he doesn’t overpower her presence. Gunning and Corden offer fun comic relief in their brief appearances although they are drawn much more broadly than our leads (perhaps the way Julian sees them).

The film has much to say about the creation of art and our relationship to it. Can an artist ever be imitated or forged properly when it is their soul that went into a painting? How can you guess what an artist’s strokes will be? When the art has left the studio who does it belong to; do artists owe an appreciation for strangers’ personal relationship with their work? It also asks questions over who can evaluate art and whose opinions should be valued. Eventually, it evolves into an exploration of the freedom of creating for the sake of it, of allowing yourself to make something bad, something free from the weight of reputation or history (personal or professional). These ideas are woven into the narrative in a way that doesn’t feel contrived or didactic, it comes naturally into the conversations and confrontations between two artists at very different stages and with very different relationships to their work and each other. There is a lot to chew on and all of it serves the story.

A wonderful little film, McKellan and Coel keep you glued to the screen for an involving and thought-provoking study of art and character.