Logan Sork Film Reviews
Velvet Buzzsaw
When I saw the trailer for Velvet Buzzsaw, I was immediately looking forward to it. The trailer promised a dark look at the modern art industry in what looked to be an intriguing horror film. It was the combination of these two ideas that made the film so intriguing. Unfortunately, it’s two ideas don’t mix as well as one would hope resulting in a film that’s clashing ideas robs it of it’s potential, while also hindering many other elements in the process.
Velvet Buzzsaw is written and directed by Dan Gilroy and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Colette, Zawe Ashton and John Malkovich. The story follows an art critic (Gyllenhaal), a gallery owner (Russo), an art advisor (Colette) an aging artist (Malkovich) and an aspiring assistant (Ashton), each of whom navigate the greedy world of the modern art business. When the assistant discovers one of her neighbors, a reclusive man, has died, she learns that he was in fact an artist and takes some of his work to be examined by her colleagues. Upon seeing the paintings, they are declared to be the next big thing in the art business for their rarity and demand as well as heir mysterious back story. However, things take a turn for the worse when strange things begin to happen to those involved in their discovery, causing some to question as to whether or not it was a good idea to release these mysterious works of art to the public.
While there are several problems to be found here, that doesn’t stop the film from having glimmers of goodness sprinkled throughout. One of these glimmers is the cast. There isn’t a single performance that feels out of place as everyone in the cast delivers a captivating performance, even when their characters aren’t perfect. The film also has a few great horror sequences as well, as director Dan Gilroy perfectly uses certain art pieces to deliver brilliant moments of genuine horror. The film also has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts as well, as it plays as both a spooky film about haunted paintings and a satirical look at the modern art industry as well as greed and how it can ultimately lead to bad things. However, while the ideas and points that the filmmakers make are interesting, the demanding attention that each idea needs is what ultimately runs the film into the ground.
The biggest problem with the film is not the ideas it has, but the manner in which they are executed. The filmmakers simply touch the surface of each idea and never really go deeper. The entire film feels like two different films that never really seem like they are the same as the film switches sporadically between the horror elements and the modern art satire, resulting in jarring tone shifts that constantly take you out of the film. There are even segments of the film where the horror elements (which are much more interesting) disappear completely from the story, only to randomly pop up every once in a while. It’s an ambitious effort to tell a story with these many ideas, however the resulting film is just a mess.
The genre and tonal shifts also cause the narrative to feel convoluted. While the premise and characters are simple, they are changed so often that it almost feels like you’re watching two separate films with completely different stories. There’s the story of these character’s trials and challenges of the modern art industry and there’s the mystery revolving around these paintings and what causes them to o ham to people. Like I stated before, both of these stories have some interesting ideas and seem quite interesting, but since they have to share the screen time with one another, neither one of them really materializes in a fully fleshed out capacity. The film as a result feels like two different stories were merged into a final product and done so in way that rob each story of its full potential.
Despite having some great performances, the characters themselves suffer because of the clashing stories and ideas. Depending on the situation, the characters will make choices that fit the scenario and not the character. One character in particular annoyed me because during the more satirical moments, the character was actually quite clever. However, once those horror moments crept in, they made choices that felt so out of left field it was kind of ridiculous. The same can be said with most of the other characters in the film, as each one feels like two completely different versions of themselves depending on which idea is being explored. There is also little to no character development with some characters even disappearing for no reason what so ever. It’s such a shame that such great actors gave top notch performances, as their characters are not even remotely close to the actors when it comes to quality.
There are a lot of interesting ideas in Velvet Buzzsaw. The idea to combine horror elements with a satire of the modern art industry could’ve been very good, and there are glimmers of greatness to be found. But it’s the way in which these two ideas clash with one another that robs the film of its potential and causes the narrative, tone and characters to suffer as a result. In the end, Velvet Buzzsaw feels like two completely different movies, neither of which are as compelling or interesting as they could’ve been.
4/10
When I saw the trailer for Velvet Buzzsaw, I was immediately looking forward to it. The trailer promised a dark look at the modern art industry in what looked to be an intriguing horror film. It was the combination of these two ideas that made the film so intriguing. Unfortunately, it’s two ideas don’t mix as well as one would hope resulting in a film that’s clashing ideas robs it of it’s potential, while also hindering many other elements in the process.
Velvet Buzzsaw is written and directed by Dan Gilroy and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Colette, Zawe Ashton and John Malkovich. The story follows an art critic (Gyllenhaal), a gallery owner (Russo), an art advisor (Colette) an aging artist (Malkovich) and an aspiring assistant (Ashton), each of whom navigate the greedy world of the modern art business. When the assistant discovers one of her neighbors, a reclusive man, has died, she learns that he was in fact an artist and takes some of his work to be examined by her colleagues. Upon seeing the paintings, they are declared to be the next big thing in the art business for their rarity and demand as well as heir mysterious back story. However, things take a turn for the worse when strange things begin to happen to those involved in their discovery, causing some to question as to whether or not it was a good idea to release these mysterious works of art to the public.
While there are several problems to be found here, that doesn’t stop the film from having glimmers of goodness sprinkled throughout. One of these glimmers is the cast. There isn’t a single performance that feels out of place as everyone in the cast delivers a captivating performance, even when their characters aren’t perfect. The film also has a few great horror sequences as well, as director Dan Gilroy perfectly uses certain art pieces to deliver brilliant moments of genuine horror. The film also has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts as well, as it plays as both a spooky film about haunted paintings and a satirical look at the modern art industry as well as greed and how it can ultimately lead to bad things. However, while the ideas and points that the filmmakers make are interesting, the demanding attention that each idea needs is what ultimately runs the film into the ground.
The biggest problem with the film is not the ideas it has, but the manner in which they are executed. The filmmakers simply touch the surface of each idea and never really go deeper. The entire film feels like two different films that never really seem like they are the same as the film switches sporadically between the horror elements and the modern art satire, resulting in jarring tone shifts that constantly take you out of the film. There are even segments of the film where the horror elements (which are much more interesting) disappear completely from the story, only to randomly pop up every once in a while. It’s an ambitious effort to tell a story with these many ideas, however the resulting film is just a mess.
The genre and tonal shifts also cause the narrative to feel convoluted. While the premise and characters are simple, they are changed so often that it almost feels like you’re watching two separate films with completely different stories. There’s the story of these character’s trials and challenges of the modern art industry and there’s the mystery revolving around these paintings and what causes them to o ham to people. Like I stated before, both of these stories have some interesting ideas and seem quite interesting, but since they have to share the screen time with one another, neither one of them really materializes in a fully fleshed out capacity. The film as a result feels like two different stories were merged into a final product and done so in way that rob each story of its full potential.
Despite having some great performances, the characters themselves suffer because of the clashing stories and ideas. Depending on the situation, the characters will make choices that fit the scenario and not the character. One character in particular annoyed me because during the more satirical moments, the character was actually quite clever. However, once those horror moments crept in, they made choices that felt so out of left field it was kind of ridiculous. The same can be said with most of the other characters in the film, as each one feels like two completely different versions of themselves depending on which idea is being explored. There is also little to no character development with some characters even disappearing for no reason what so ever. It’s such a shame that such great actors gave top notch performances, as their characters are not even remotely close to the actors when it comes to quality.
There are a lot of interesting ideas in Velvet Buzzsaw. The idea to combine horror elements with a satire of the modern art industry could’ve been very good, and there are glimmers of greatness to be found. But it’s the way in which these two ideas clash with one another that robs the film of its potential and causes the narrative, tone and characters to suffer as a result. In the end, Velvet Buzzsaw feels like two completely different movies, neither of which are as compelling or interesting as they could’ve been.
4/10