Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 61% based on 185 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10. Velvet Buzzsaw is unabashedly supernatural in its horror, with mixed results. Velvet Buzzsaw is a bonbon spiked with wit and malice, inviting us to join a nest of hyper-articulate, morally hollow vipers as they destroy each other with cruelly hilarious abandon. As someone who sees hundreds of movies a year, and covers hundreds of hours of television, I value originality, and “Velvet Buzzsaw” is certainly unlike anything else you’re going to see this year on Netflix or any other streaming service. Russo is dynamite, as is Toni Collette as Gretchen, a museum curator turned art advisor (translation: it pays way more). Sonny Bunch-February 1, 2019 4:55 AM. In 2014’s Nightcrawler, still a career high for both, Gyllenhaal played a toxic TV news cameraman eager to feed the public the carnage it craves. She probably should have taken that as an omen. Director Dan Gilroy's parody of the American art market settles for cheap scares and stereotypes. It was shot by the great Robert Elswit (robbed of an Oscar nod for his work on Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler”) and his work elevates the piece overall. © Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. “I used to be punk,” she tells Morf. Full Review | Original Score: C+ Joey Keogh Wicked Horror. First introduced at Art Basel in Miami, a Garden of Eden for art connoisseurs, these serpents hiss, slither and strike with venomous glee. Velvet Buzzsaw is thought-provoking, but not in a good way. “Velvet Buzzsaw” is a unique horror film visually in that it doesn’t employ the typical dark color pattern or low lighting typical in the genre. Art is dangerous and those who profit from it are risking their lives in Dan Gilroy’s bloody art-world satire “Velvet Buzzsaw.” Gilroy targets all the players who feed the machine of high-priced art—the pretentious artists, the gallery owners, the agents, the clients, and especially the critics—making the case that the more we commodify art that comes from passionate, even dark places, the more we risk suffering as a consequence. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ Review Killer art. “Velvet Buzzsaw” is a unique horror film visually in that it doesn’t employ the typical dark color pattern or low lighting typical in the genre. It turns out that the tepid scares are a velvet buzzkill that leaves all these tantalizing characters in search of something to play. Velvet Buzzsaw is a satirical thriller set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a … See Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby Perform Together on 'CBS This Morning', Watch Peter Gabriel Re-Record ‘Biko’ With Artists From Around the World, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Krist Novoselic Sometimes Get Together and Jam as Nirvana, Skipping Grocery Stores Amid Covid Concerns, People Turn to These Meal Delivery Kits for Dinner, ‘Framing Britney Spears:’ How to Watch the New Britney Spears Documentary on Hulu for Free. We want to hear from you! Having broken up with a dude, a personal trainer who’s been selling advance peeks at his reviews, Morf takes up with Josephina (Zawe Ashton), whose almond skin turns him on and who works for Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), a power gallery owner whose knows Morf’s reviews can make her richer than she already is. Or maybe, after watching the cautionary tale Morf the cynical critic, I’m just scared something will happen to me if I’m too mean. Instead, Josephina unleashes the art into the world, and all of the aforementioned characters (except maybe Coco) want a piece of the inevitable profit. Scenes where paintings come alive and attack those who seek to … She peeks into his apartment and finds dozens of gorgeous paintings—and the design of the art is truly fantastic. He is a kingmaker in a circle of art profiteers that includes agent Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo) and her assistant Josephina (Zawe Ashton). It’s a disheartening trade-off. Velvet Buzzsaw, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a make-or-break art critic, Rene Russo as a former punk queen turned dealer, Toni Collette as a buyer and John Malkovich as … With the great Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood) shooting these scenes and lighting the vibrant costumes from designers Trish Summerville and Isis Mussenden, Velvet Buzzsaw is never less than a feast for the eyes even when it reduces the plot to B-level butchery. The dialogue sounded very Velvet Buzzsaw had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019. [This is a repost of my review from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. This concludes my review of the Velvet Buzzsaw movie. Velvet Buzzsaw isn't an objectively bad film by any stretch, it just feels held back. Instead, they get Velvet Buzzsaw (the name of Rhodora’s old punk band), which buries their singularities in horror tropes. Film Review: ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ It's hardly great art, but Dan Gilroy's Netflix-bound horror satire packs an undeniably trashy appeal as it skewers the snobbish world of galleries. “Now I’m a purveyor of good taste.” Ouch. The problems start when one starts digging below the surface. This review was filed from the Sundance Film Festival on January 28th, 2019. Velvet Buzzsaw is never less than a feast for the eyes even when it reduces the plot to B-level butchery. As writer and director, Gilroy misguidedly turns his lampoon of the greedy elite who bugger art in the name of commerce into a clunky horror show. "Velvet Buzzsaw" is a horror movie that conveys its story to viewers in a satire-style. When there’s money to be made? And so maybe I’m more forgiving of it than people who aren’t subjected to so much predictable mundanity would be. Reception. The following is a spoiler-free review for Velvet Buzzsaw.. It’s an ambitious movie, so a difficult one to manage in terms of structure, but this flick lurches and stops sometimes right when you want it to be building up momentum. Velvet Buzzsaw is at its best when it's satirizing the art scene in all its excess (one of the best movies about this is the hard-to-find indie, (Untitled), which is highly recommended). What fun, until it isn’t anymore. Full Review | Original Score: C+ Joey Keogh Wicked Horror. But she sees something in the violent canvases and takes them home. Gilroy sacrifices character development and a ripe cast to reinvent himself as old-school Roger Corman. It feels strangely ironic to review a dumpster fire of a movie that made fun of critiquing anything by showing an art agent mistaking some trash bags for an art installation. 9, in which the attendees of an art show … It starts when Josephina comes home to find her upstairs neighbor deceased in the hallway. This review comes from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. He toils not and neither does he spin, but damn he can end a career with his acid-dipped reviews. You know how a painting can look totally different depending on the angle from which you're viewing it? Velvet Buzzsaw is also similar to an episode of the darkly humorous British anthology show Inside No. Set in the very art world, Morf Vanderwalt ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) is an art critic who has becomes bored and jaded at what he does. By Fran Schechter. 2 February 2019 | by jeffreycarephotography – See all my reviews The idea in the film is fantastic but didn't seem to dive deep enough into the story and lacks impact. By Michael Kalafatis (Stoke-on-Trent) “A bad review is better than sinking into the great glut of anonymity.” Velvet Buzzsaw begins with Morf Vanderwalt (Jake Gyllenhaal) a contemporary art critic attending an art exhibition with his friend and agent Josephina (Zawe Ashton). Velvet Buzzsaw, which arrives soon on Netflix, debuted this weekend at Sundance to mostly favorable reviews, which celebrate the camp performances and … Writer-director Dan Gilroy (of Nightcrawler and Roman J. Israel, Esq. Passers-by mistake the old man’s corpse for an art installation (good one). And I kept hoping for it to coalesce into a statement about art that was deeper than “take it seriously.” There are also some weird, choppy edits, and tonal jumps. And then people start dying. For real. Take Jake Gyllenhaal in Velvet Buzzsaw, ... Or working on a review, naked, a laptop artfully covering his privates. It is a surprise that Gilroy would center his entire film on such a shopworn theme. But Dease left strict instructions that his work must be destroyed, never commodified or commercialized. 'Velvet Buzzsaw' Review: A … ‘Tenet’ Review: Christopher Nolan’s Knockout Arrives Right on Time, ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’ Review: Third Time’s a Most Excellent Charm, ‘Personal History of David Copperfield’ Review: Dickens, Served with a Side of Absurdity. They'll make you laugh. But he’ll have the avenging ghost of Dease to answer to, not to mention audiences who expected so much more from the talent at hand. And he does so in what could be called a satire-horror hybrid, playfully poking his art world players for the first half and then unleashing actual violence on them in the second. With most of the characters being pretenious, I was overwhelmed with the use of metaphores and foreshadowing, it became expected throughout the film but doesn't hold enough significance. Velvet Buzzsaw is on the surface a satire about the silliness of the contemporary art world, but that realm is pretty much beyond the reach of parody. Velvet Buzzsaw is as cheesy and on-the-nose as the above sentence sounds and there is … Money is good for business but bad for the soul. In theaters for a week before being served up to Netflix subscribers (it’s a new world, folks…), Dan Gilroy’s satire of the Los Angeles art scene gets off to a deliciously depraved start. As critic Morf Vanderwalt (priceless name) in Velvet Buzzsaw, Gyllenhaal is something worse. My mind couldn't stop thinking throughout its 113 minute runtime; only to make sure if I'm really getting all what is going on, or the plot is so profound and smart that I'm only seeing the surface of it. It was released by Netflix on February 1, 2019. Velvet Buzzsaw First Reviews: Dan Gilroy's Horror-Satire Kills at Sundance Early reviews say the Nightcrawler director's reunion with star Jake Gyllenhaal is a uniquely bizarre ride full of campy, gory thrills and big performances. It turns out Dease’s work is — in the words of Morf — “visionary, mesmeric.” There’s gold to be plundered from the late recluse, who may have also been a serial killer who painted with the blood of his victims. The main lesson this movie is trying to teach is the fact that an artist's work should be respected more because of … Jake Gyllenhaal is in gloriously showy mode as art critic Morf Vandewalt, a writer who can literally make or break an artist’s career with his buzz-generating reviews. Velvet Buzzsaw isn't an objectively bad film by any stretch, it just feels held back. My mind couldn't stop thinking throughout its 113 minute runtime; only to make sure if I'm really getting all what is going on, or the plot is so profound and smart that I'm only seeing the surface of it. Velvet Buzzsaw is at its best when it's satirizing the art scene in all its excess (one of the best movies about this is the hard-to-find indie, (Untitled), which is highly recommended). Review: Dan Gilroy’s ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ savages the art world Rene Russo and Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie “Velvet Buzzsaw.” (Claudette Barius / Netflix) She learns that her neighbor was a troubled artist, and he was trying to destroy his life's work when he died. Even Coco (Natalia Dyer), a seemingly innocent young receptionist, is soon caught in the web. Sadly, yes, with gore as the cherry on top. Almost like a slasher movie director giving us snippets of character for the eventual victims arriving to the remote cabin in the woods, Gilroy populates an ensemble with quirky characters like installment technician Bryson (Billy Magnussen), gallery manager Gretchen (Toni Collette), grown-repetitive artist Piers (John Malkovich), hot-young-agent Jon Dondon (Tom Sturridge), hot-young-artist Damrish (Daveed Diggs), and new assistant Coco (Natalia Dyer). December 28, 2018. Throughout much of the art-world spoof “Velvet Buzzsaw” it feels like writer-director Dan Gilroy is taking easy shots at fat targets. Reception. , both excellent films) has convincingly crafted a whole world, a whole vernacular. Review: 'Velvet Buzzsaw' is a cheap horror set in the high-flying art world The thinking behind 'Velvet Buzzsaw' is wildly original, but it's in effective as a vehicle for horror. It’s no surprise that hardly anyone is alive by the time the film ends. Velvet Buzzsaw is a 2019 horror movie about an art gallery that discovers an artist whose work has dire consequences for those that own his work. And then, if you're really lucky, they'll make you do both. Maybe. You can still feel diabolical potential inching its way onto Gilroy’s canvas. Much of “Velvet Buzzsaw” rises or falls on whether or not the art Josephina finds would believably incite the buying frenzy and fandom that it does, so it’s essential that we believably buy that she’s captivated by the art. Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. Gilroy shows his weakest hand with the scare stuff. Or declaring, "Critique is so limiting and emotionally draining." The same thing is going to happen with “Velvet Buzzsaw,” and I think that’s exactly how Dan Gilroy wants it.

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