I want to say I’ve seen a movie with a murderous painting done right somewhere but nothing springs to mind immediately. The formula hasn’t been cracked in Velvet Buzzsaw, which probably would’ve been significantly more effective if its scares relied on your imagination rather than visceral visuals. Look at everything surrounding these scenes and we find a film with a lot to say about art appreciation, professional artists, art itself and the tried-and-true horror of madness.
Art critic Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal) has the power to make an artist or condemn them to the dark oblivion of obscurity. He is shown a number of paintings by undiscovered artist Vetril Dease and becomes obsessed with them. Morf doesn’t know Dease is dead and his paintings were ordered destroyed. Stolen from their creator’s apartment by Morf’s friend Josephina (Zawe Ashton) and being carefully promoted by gallery owner Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), it appears a curse surrounds them. The more people profit from the works, the higher the body count gets.
A mad painter whose works entrance the viewers and prove deadly? It’s a great foundation. I criticize Velvet Buzzsaw for showing too much of the deaths - seeing a humanoid sculpture shamble around and try to kill someone inspires exactly 0 scares - but the film makes the wise choice to show the paintings. They’re masterpieces but not in a way which screams “evil”! Actually, many of them seem perfectly innocuous at first.
The film’s keystone is Jake Gyllenhaal’s character. He has a penchant for using extraneous words when diminutive ones would suffice and when he dismisses someone, he becomes overly cruel. Calling a sculpture the biggest waste of steel since the Titanic? That’s someone finding ways to amuse themselves; he’s not even talking about the piece anymore. When you think you can categorize him as an all-out cartoon, however, you see his passion for the Dease pieces. The way he speaks, the way he looks when he thinks about them. You cut through the frou-frou exterior he’s built over the years and recognize what made him get into the business in the first place. Velvet Buzzsaw is a satire. Everything is exaggerated but I couldn’t help wonder if writer-director Dan Gilroy doesn’t maybe resent the way galleries are run today and how pieces can no longer simply be pleasing to the eye, instead relying on shock or gimmicks to be noticed.
There’s a lot of subtext in Velvet Buzzsaw and more than once, what’s beneath the surface becomes more interesting than what the movie’s “about”. If only it were truly terrifying, then it’d be great. Oh well, there’s still plenty to enjoy. Good performances, cool ideas and biting commentary about fine art. It’s a horror film for those who don’t usually call themselves fans of the genre. Those are the ones who’ll like it best. (February 10, 2019)
