Ian McKellen plays a reclusive painter in Nyack this June

On the surface, "The Christophers" is a story about art and inheritance. Look a little closer and it's something thornier: two grown children who hire a young painter-forger to con their way into their aging father's studio, all in a bid to secure paintings he's kept deliberately out of reach. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Ian McKellen as Julian Sklar, a once-celebrated figure in the London art world who has retreated into a kind of voluntary disappearance, the film arrives at the Nyack Center on Wednesday, June 10 at 8PM.

Rivertown Film has been bringing exactly this kind of thoughtful, character-driven work to Nyack for years, and "The Christophers" fits squarely in that tradition. McKellen's Julian is described as a mainstay of the creative explosion of 1960s London who has since buried himself -- and a series of unfinished canvases -- somewhere inside his cluttered home studio. The family intrigue that drives the plot has the bones of a stage drama: secrets, estrangement, a stranger let in under false pretenses.

The Nyack Center is a reliable venue for this kind of evening -- close enough to walk to from most of the village, easy to make a proper night of it with dinner before. This one skews more toward adult audiences given the themes, but the "Family" category on the listing suggests the film may find something universal in the generational tension at its core. Either way, it's the sort of film that tends to prompt conversation on the walk home.

Tickets are on sale now. For showtimes, ticketing, and any additional details, see the full listing.