Velvet Buzzsaw

A jejune view of modern art...Velvet Buzzsaw

Dan Gilroy's Velvet Buzzsaw is a prototypical mixed bag. The elements of art world satire work well enough, but Gilroy cannot provide that extra oomph to give the horror sequences much of an impact. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo are back from Gilroy's Nightcrawler and the writer-director provides them chewy moments; as he does for Zawe Ashton, John Malkovich, Toni Collette and Tom Sturridge. The cinematography by Robert Elswit, who lensed Nightcrawler, Inherent Vice, There Will Be Blood, etc., delivers a lurid noir look replete with neon, sunsets, car lights and oil paint. This, along with nice costumes and intelligent set design, are reason enough to see the picture.

On the debit side, Gilroy's view of modern art is jejune. Since both dealers and artists are portrayed as vacant hustlers, there is little emotional impact for the viewer when they meet their violent ends. The haunted paintings that trigger the horrific events are banal facsimiles of 30s expressionism presented under the guise of 'outsider art". Gilroy has fun depicting the back stabbers and sell outs of the art world, but do they really deserve their grisly fate. I enjoyed seeing Toni Colette's limb being severed by a piece of modern sculpture, but William Gass explored the intrusive nature of modern art more provocatively in his novel A Frolic of His Own way back in 1994. The lack of morality and compassion in Velvet Buzzsaw is ultimately Gilroy's.