The Lost Leonardo (2021)

The Lost Leonardo is that rare documentary that plays like a high-stakes thriller while never losing sight of the deeper question at its core: what, exactly, are we really buying when we buy “great art”? Starting with a tense, almost forensic moment in a London gallery, it pulls you into a world of restorers, scholars, dealers, and billionaires where taste, ego, and money collide in ways that are as fascinating as any fiction. The film is brisk, engrossing, and filled with vivid characters, but its real hook is how insightfully it exposes the machinery of the art market—where authenticity can feel like both a fact and a battleground. If you’re allergic to ambiguity or prefer neat answers, it may frustrate you, but if you like smart mysteries with real-world stakes, it’s hard to stop watching.

The Lost Leonardo clearly wants to be a classy, suspenseful deep dive into the Salvator Mundi saga—part art mystery, part money-and-power spectacle—and when it leans into the personalities and high-stakes intrigue, it’s genuinely absorbing. The problem is it can feel a bit too polite: it circles the central irony of the whole affair and sometimes opts for atmosphere over digging in with sharper questions. If you’re hoping for a definitive, no-nonsense verdict or the most exhaustive, hardline investigation available on this story, this may leave you feeling it held back or tilted toward certain voices. Still, if you like art-world dramas and want a slick, accessible overview that keeps things moving, it’s an entertaining watch.