Sundance ’26: ‘THE GALLERIST’ is A Frenetic Art World Satire Hoisted on Its Own Pitard

Cathy Yan’s absurdist satirical comedy The Gallerist may attempt to be an on-the-nose skewering of the art world, but even committed performances from its all-star cast can’t make up for weak jokes and thin satire. Natalie Portman stars as Polina Poliski, an ambitious and unscrupulous gallerist who, in the midst of Art Basel Miami, is confronted with an absurd situation: after a colorful confrontation, a hackneyed, rival art influencer accidentally impales himself on one of the statues her gallery is featuring. Rather than call for help, Polina sees a publicity opportunity. She decides to “curate” his corpse into art. The piece goes viral almost immediately. And so begins a countdown to sell the “art” before it’s discovered for what it actually is.

The concept is certainly audacious; morbid, flashy, and reaching for commentary that always seems to just exceed its grasp. At times, Yan’s direction embraces the chaos with appropriately frenzied pacing and a steady stream of absurdist flourishes. But despite the premise, The Gallerist rarely achieves its primary goal: actually being funny. Or offering anything resembling a unique point of view. It’s satire that gestures wildly without ever landing a punch.

Filling out the ensemble is a cast stacked with talent, each giving the material more than it really deserves. Jenna Ortega plays Polina’s meek, clipboard-grasping assistant Kiki, who is caught between her own ambition and moral queasiness. Catherine Zeta-Jones shows up as Kiki’s powerful, if eventually helpful, power broker art dealer aunt. Sterling K. Brown exudes wealthy-ex-husband energy with a mix of charm and veiled menace, while Daniel Brühl goes full bombast as a grotesquely rich and flamboyant wanna-be collector. And then there’s Zach Galifianakis as the skewered influencer, dead for most of the film.

To their credit, none of them are phoning it in. In fact, most of the film’s absurdity is powered through sheer force of will from this ensemble, dragging the movie along even when the script seems destined to stall. But it’s all in service of a very mild, unfunny critique: that the art world is phony, if not outright felonious. The satirical stake of the film never really penetrates deeper than that.

A number of things stand in the way of Polina successfully selling a dead body: a police investigation, faulty A/C accelerating decomposition, and a concerned girlfriend poking around. But even as the circumstances get more and more over the top, it just never becomes particularly funny. The energy is there. The stakes are increasingly ridiculous. But absurdity, unfortunately, doesn’t equal laughs in this case.

Which is a shame, because the cast really is peak. There’s a version of this movie that does work, one where the satire actually cuts, the humor lands, and Yan’s flair serves something more pointed. But this isn’t it. The Gallerist wants to say something about commodified art, viral fame, and moral bankruptcy, but mostly just ends up being the exact thing it wants to critique: empty art posturing as something more.

CONCLUSION: Cathy Yan’s high-concept art world dark comedy ‘The Gallerist’ boasts an impressive cast of Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sterling K. Brown, and more but can’t manage to deliver sharp satire or many laughs.