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Title: Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
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At Sundance 2019, filmmaker Dan Gilroy and members of his Velvet Buzzsaw cast cut to the core of the Netflix thriller — and Gilroy's connection with star Rene Russo.
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Jake Gyllenhaal | ... | Morf Vandewalt | |
| Rene Russo | ... | Rhodora Haze | |
| Zawe Ashton | ... | Josephina | |
| Tom Sturridge | ... | Jon Dondon | |
| Toni Collette | ... | Gretchen | |
| Natalia Dyer | ... | Coco | |
| Daveed Diggs | ... | Damrish | |
| John Malkovich | ... | Piers | |
| Billy Magnussen | ... | Bryson | |
 |
Alan Mandell | ... | Dease |
| Mig Macario | ... | Cloudio | |
| Nitya Vidyasagar | ... | Gita | |
| Sedale Threatt Jr. | ... | Ed | |
| Keith Bogart | ... | Husband at Art Basel Will Call | |
| Sofia Toufa | ... | Wife at Art Basel Will Call | |
A satire set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles, where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce.
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Simply put Velvet Buzzsaw is a mess. It lacks any genuine horror, comedy, or drama and feels cheap and schlocky, and not in the good b-movie horror way.
This one stung because when I first heard of this film I thought it was right up my alley. The faux intellectualism and aggressive monetization that surrounds the high art world is something worthy of parody, but this movie gets so lost in its message and meanders around several poorly written characters, essentially wasting its interesting premise on a below average, generically shot bit of schlock. It brings nothing to the table and fails to live up to the standards set by its contemporaries and even the directors past work.
The characters presented here are lacking in about every respect. One of the things that really excited me about this movie was the massive amount of talent it employed, but even a lively performance from the likes of Gyllenhaal could not mask the fact that the writing was just not up to snuff. What exposition and backstory we get on this miserable bunch of narcissistic artistes is sparse and told rather than shown through slow interactions within art galleries and avant garde offices. Perhaps it was an artistic choice to paint these characters who leech of the creative works of others as banal but it prevented me from ever getting invested in them. Thus, not only were the inevitable horror scenes that followed the character introductions were completely void of any proper scares or interesting creatures, but they also lacked any proper victims.
Moreover, the editing was choppy and scenes did not always flow logically from one to the other. There was a surprising lack of interesting camera angles or dark and brooding shots that could have been used to cultivate horror in the viewer (with the exception of a scene involving a gas station and monkeys). Velvet Buzzsaw's presentation lacked a certain definitiveness and style that the directors earlier work had possessed. It ends up looking rather uninspired. There was some aggressively unappealing use of green screen too, especially apparent during a waterfront chat between an agent and a up and coming street artist (I can't even remember there names they left so little an impression). The movie looks so fake and cheap, which I suppose in a way fit the character and dialogue quality.
Apart from its blatant ant-art profiteering message the movie seems to translate nothing effectively, and the overall weight of what it tries to say is diminished by its shortcomings. The actor's do what they can here, they are the only redeemable aspect of Velvet Buzzsaw, but an artist is only as good as his or her tools, and they were given very little to work with here.
Definitely Avoid.