Review: Velvet Buzzsaw
The art world, with all its pretensions and affectations, is a fairly easy target for mockery. Velvet Buzzsaw, which re-teams Nightcrawler collaborators writer-director Dan Gilroy and stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo, isn't particularly savage as far as send-ups go, but its mix of the supernatural and satire can be deliciously entertaining, if a bit boring and pointless at times.
There's more than a hint of giallo that permeates the film, which kicks into gear when rising agent Josephina (Zawe Ashton) discovers a dead man's body in the hallway of her apartment block. That man turns out to one Vetril Dease and his apartment is filled with a treasure trove of his paintings, which he had been in the midst of destroying before his death, and some of which Josephina steals and shares with feared art critic and new lover, Morf Vandewalt (Gyllenhaal). Morf proclaims Dease a visionary and his work mesmeric; so, too, does Josephina's boss, rock musician turned gallery owner Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), first seen garbed in leopard print - highly fitting since she is as fierce, ruthless and predatory as they come.
Dease's paintings are ghoulish, clearly the work of a deranged mind - we later learn that he killed his abusive father and that he spent quite a bit of time in a mental hospital - and strange things start to happen. Dease's paintings seem possessed by some malevolent force and, one by one, these shallow, narcissistic opportunities each meet a very gory comeuppance. Gilroy seems most engaged during these scenes, the first of which occurs when sleazy art installer Bryson (Billy Magnussen) finds his shirt catching fire, causing him to crash his truck into an abandoned gas station. Retreating inside to soothe his burns with water, he suddenly finds himself under attack by a painting of monkeys fixing a car. Similarly, Rhodora's rival Jon Dondon (Tom Sturridge) finds himself trapped in one of his newly acquired installations and gets himself hanged in the process.
The various ways in which the victims die are nearly enough to maintain viewer interest, but Velvet Buzzsaw feels like a series of death scenes that are barely tethered to an actual plot. Perhaps that wouldn't be so egregious if one didn't get the sense that Gilroy was trying for something higher in the way he skewered the way in which modern journalism loosens its ethical standards in order to meet consumer demand. One could argue that Velvet Buzzsaw touches upon the disconnect between the artist's wants and those who would disregard those very wants in the name of greed, but the exploration is too feeble for any substantial thoughts to be provoked.
Nevertheless, there's enough in the film to make it worth one's time, from the visually engaging production design to its moments of mordant humour (Morf disapproving of a coffin being coloured "smog orange"), and, most especially, Russo's steely and remorseless Rhodora and Gyllenhaal's biting Morf, who comes undone in the most gloriously deranged way.
Velvet Buzzsaw
Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Written by: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer, Daveed Diggs, Billy Magnussen, John Malkovich
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