‘The Gallerist’ review: Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega crackle in Cathy Yan’s rollicking romp

Dir: Cathy Yan. US. 2026. 88mins

When obnoxious influencer Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis) insists on a private tour of a new art exhibition by emerging artist Stella Burgess (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), little does he know he’ll soon be dying for his art. His body is just the latest headache for Miami gallery owner Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman) and her assistant Kiki Gorman (Jenna Ortega). The death of Dalton is a deliberately telegraphed event that has an enjoyably slow build after which Cathy Yan’s farcical comedy thriller quickly gathers pace.

Propelled by heist-style machinations

The Gallerist is the second of Yan’s films to play at Sundance after Dead Pigs featured in the World Dramatic Competition in 2018 and she’s since directed DC extended universe film Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn). The Gallerist boasts an equally starry cast, with cross-generational appeal. That plus the blackly satiric nature of the material should appeal to distributors looking for intelligent comedy.

With the gallery about to open, Polina decides the only thing for it is to ’curate’ Dalton’s body and pretend it’s part of the work, quickly recruiting Kiki and Stella as partners in crime. The move turns out to be a success, drawing the attention of Kiki’s aunt Marianne Gorman (Ortega’s Wednesday co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones), a glamorous fresh-out-of-jail art dealer, along with Polina’s ex Tom Mayer (Sterling K Brown).

As events start to snowball, the camerawork from Federico Cesca becomes increasingly mobile, floating through the gallery’s walls or chasing after the main characters as they dodge their way through visitors to the exhibition, and duck in and out of the ladies room for conflabs. Andrew Orkin and Joseph Shirley’s score also becomes increasingly breathless. Adding extra tension is the broken air conditioning unit which means the clock is ticking on the women’s plan to make some money and get rid of the body before it starts to smell.

While the story is propelled by the heist-style machinations, the nature of the art industry is also put in the frame. It’s not easy to satirise an environment in which a fresh banana duct-taped to a wall made $6.2million in the real world, but Yan pushes the envelope while allowing some character soul-searching to play out in the background. Stella faces the dilemma of whether she wants to make money out of something she didn’t create, while for Polina the question becomes how far she’ll go to stay afloat. 

Yan’s film doesn’t just target those who claim to know about art, but also the super-rich who buy items simply to lock them up in freeports for tax reasons, with Daniel Bruhl having a blast as a hispanic buyer of that ilk. Charli XCX – who is also at Sundance with I Want Your Sex and The Moment – also crops up in a small but significant role in the film’s final lap.

Throughout, Portman, Ortega and Zeta-Jones bounce the script around like a ping-pong ball, with all three displaying meticulous timing. Costume designer Bénédicte Mouret also deserves particular credit not just for the outfits of the central characters, complete with impractical shoes, but for the eclectic mix of often outlandish attire sported by the sporting cast.

Yan may paint a picture of an art world that’s a magnet for vapid souls and moneygrabbers but she also spares a thought for those who put their heart and soul into their work only to find themselves compromised by circumstance. Art may speak to you but it’s money that talks.