Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

I have enjoyed writer/director Dan Gilroy's work in the past, both as a writer and a director. He wrote The Fall (which I love) and his directorial debut Nightcrawler was incredibly impressive. Roman J. Israel was also much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. So perhaps part of the problem was that I went into Velvet Buzzsaw with higher expectations than I should have. But as I watched the film, my heart sank. It felt like one of those films that seemed like it was a lot more clever than it really was.

Velvet Buzzsaw wears its moral-of-the-story on its sleeve. It's attack on the art world, specifically the selling and critiquing of it, is blatantly on the nose. Perhaps I wouldn't have minded so much if Velvet Buzzsaw was itself done with some panache and style. But very much unlike Nightcrawler, there is little artfulness about the way Gilroy films Buzzsaw. It often looks like a television show more than a movie and its scenes are laid out rather pedantically. There is one moment where Gilroy does this odd shot panning across an art exhibition where he actually goes through a champagne glass. It doesn't feel revelatory or interesting, just weird. But little else in the film even has a "weird" vibe so it sits quite out of place.

The film's plot happens in a very straightforward way, and offers little to get interested in. Buzzsaw descends quickly into a campy horror film that doesn't manage to capture a high-camp elegance. It feels far to predictable for that, and lacking any true sense of artistry, it just feels like a typical horror set in the world of the art market. It's like Gilroy couldn't decide if he was making a B-movie horror film or art house cinema and ended up missing the mark on all of it.

Even the cast feels so off throughout most of it. Gyllenhaal looks like he's aping throughout the film more than creating a character of any depth. Collette, who is most at home in a good horror film, also plays campier than normal and seems one dimensional. The film sort of rests on Zawe Ashton, the central figure of the film, and she never quite feels like she's on point either. For me little in this film came together and that includes the cast, all actors I normally enjoy.

I couldn't help thinking throughout what a missed opportunity this felt like. I kept flashing to Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, a film which shares much in common with this in intention but blows it away in terms of style, narrative, and symbolism. Velvet Buzzsaw feels like it never quite finds its groove or hits its mark. And when there is this much potential it feels like a larger disappointment than most.

Velvet Buzzsaw
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Zawe Ashton, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, John Malkovich, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer, Daveed Diggs, Billy Magnussen
Writer/Director: Dan Gilroy