Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

User Review

• 

  BarneyNuttall

  5 / 10

  With a similar acidity to Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy attempts to merge satire and horror in this take on the pretentious contemporary art world. Sadly, the film is muddled. With a plot that takes a while to start and a mutated genre experiment gone awry, Velvet Buzzsaw is fun for some. For me, it saddens. There is a brilliantly saccharine film hiding away somewhere, as there may be a dark social commentary horror. Conjoin the two together? I don't think so.
  
  The film has a sprinkling of fun performances. Jake Gyllenhaal as Morf Vandewalt, the camp, condescending art critic, is brilliantly fluid while Rene Russo is a painfully tough Rhodora Haze, owner of the self-named gallery. Toni Collette (Gretchen), Zawe Ashton (Josephina), Tom Sturridge (Jon Dondon), Natalia Dyer (Coco), and John Malkovich (Piers) all have smaller roles which are either funny or punchable. While the film's gore is fun in places, in others it conflicted with the film's horror element. If it was a straight satire, like American Psycho, then perhaps a tattoo buzzsaw literally mincing skin would work. For me, the film's horror elements suffered from a lack of tension while the satire succumbed to a shallow outlook. Art is pretentious. We know.

  Like?

  0 member like this review.