Velvet Buzzsaw

Velvet Buzzsaw, a Netflix original, won’t be for everyone. I watched it based on the intriguing trailer I saw on streaming Netflix. It is rated R for violence, language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use.

Velvet Buzzsaw is a supernatural horror film set in the art world; the ultra rich world of high finance installation and abstract art that I find tedious and boring. I loved this film and it’s unique sense of humor that is an undercurrent through all the mystery and horror that unfolds.

Art critic Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal) is front and center in this film where the legacy of art goes very, very wrong. Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo) is a gallery owner and a wheeler dealer in the art world. Her assistant Josephina (Zawe Ashton) comes across an apartment full of art in her building after her neighbor Dease passes away. She recognizes his work as having possibilities, despite Dease’s request that they all be destroyed upon his death. Rhodora takes charge of the artwork to create a market for the dead man’s paintings (works of dead artists sell better than the living I am sorry to say). Dease’s paintings have supernatural effects on all who come in contact with them, and dead bodies begin to turn up.

Velvet Buzzsaw makes fun of the high class art world as indeed it should be made fun of. Jake Gyllenhaal is brilliant in his role as the art critic, and is really fun to watch. Since my husband is an artist, I spend a fair amount of time in galleries and art museums. I’ve been in some of these pretentious establishments where the price tags are in the 5-6 figure range, none of it worth the canvas it’s painted on. Particularly amusing to me is what happens to art advisor Gretchen (Toni Collette) and how the public initially respond to it.

Did you see Velvet Buzzsaw? Is it more of a horror film or a satire for you? Would you recommend the film to anyone?

Velvet Buzzsaw - Official Trailer