As an artist, I hate to admit that I do not have one critical bone in my body. That’s to say, I can’t critique art beyond the binary decision of “good” or “bad”. Everyone puts a different type of effort and passion into their artwork, and the potential to improve is always there.
Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, Velvet Buzzsaw takes a chilling satirical look into the behind the scenes battles that curators, critics and artists go through in hopes of displaying their artwork in museum exhibits. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer, Daveed Diggs, Billy Magnussen, and John Malkovich.
This little slice of horror deals with the theme of passion versus greed in a capitalistic society. When it’s all about the money, the cast finds that the price you pay for art is more than one can afford.
“A feared critic, an icy gallery owner, and an ambitious assistant snap up a recently deceased artist’s stash of paintings — with dire consequences.”
– Netflix Summary (2019)
Velvet Buzzsaw movie poster credited to Netflix and IMDB
Story
The ultimate fantasy comes true for Josephina (Zawe Ashton) who discovers a dead man in her hotel with a vast collection of art in his apartment. She collects the pieces, in hopes of turning them around as the representative for the dead artist. However, there is one specific detail that she has decided to outright ignore in hopes of making a profit: the artist’s instructions before death were to burn and destroy every art piece in the collection.
This does not stop her associates from becoming involved including different museum curators, art collectors and a critique. Gorf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal), becomes increasingly obsessed with the original artist and soon finds a possible connection between the art and a string of deaths.
There is a financial aspect to the daily lives of the characters as they come into the new pieces of art. The artwork is seemingly able to change lives, and not always for the better. Couple this with a theme of passion versus greed, which tries to challenge the worth of art and artist.
Supernatural Horror
Going into this movie blind is a good way to enhance the experience. The story is a slow burn that starts to catch fire during the second act. This being a supernatural horror centered on paintings, it’s only natural to expect images to move when the characters aren’t looking. An entity tied to the paintings is certainly searching for something, much like the greedy characters on screen.
Music and Sound Design
The music and sound design for the movie is not a focus for the film. Swells come and go in anticipation for a scare, and they are certainly appreciated. There was an interesting scene in a soundproof room – which I’m sure would benefit from being presented in surround sound.
Verdict
With some second hand knowledge of the movie, I was expecting a more impressive and gory film. What I got from Velvet Buzzsaw definitely left me wondering what the themes and reasoning behind the events were – and that alone is a positive note. It’s one of the softer scary movies this October, but not a bad watch in the end. Velvet Buzzsaw is available to stream on Netflix just in time for Halloween.
Story: 6/10
Music & Sound: 5/10
Scares: 3/10
Gore: 2/10
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alejandro Furnells
Student Author - Fall 2019
