Velvet Buzzsaw is a Netflix exclusive supernatural horror film set in the Los Angeles art scene. It comes from writer-director Dan Gilroy, who was also responsible for the Denzel Washington drama Roman J. Israel, Esq. and more notably the Oscar-nominated 2014 film Nightcrawler. Velvet Buzzsaw brings back two major actors from Nightcrawler as well as the cinematographer and editor but unfortunately pales in comparison.
Nightcrawler was an incisive examination of media, and Velvet Buzzsaw tries to do the same thing with the art world. It starts to explore some interesting ideas, but just doesn’t really have anything insightful to say and is far from subtle in saying it.
The movie starts off somewhat promising but basically turns into a generic slasher-esque film halfway through. I have no problem with gory horror, but in addition to failing at satire, Velvet Buzzsaw also doesn’t work as horror. It’s not scary or creepy and the kills aren’t particularly noteworthy. The story is bland and there no good reveals or twists.
The performances are also a massive step down from Nightcrawler. Even Jake Gyllenhaal, one of the best working actors, is incredibly over the top, and his goofy facial expressions make it feel almost like a parody. Rene Russo isn’t awful, but definitely has some scenes where her acting is shaky and flat. Other great actors like John Malkovich and Toni Collette are fine but are pretty much wasted.
None of the characters are that well-written and they often feel like caricatures. This is very minor nitpick, but a lot of them had ridiculous names, like Morf Vanderwalt and Vetril Dease.
The film’s visual style is also unimpressive. While there are a few creative shots here and there, the look is overall quite generic. No technical aspect of the film stands out.
Velvet Buzzsaw’s pacing is a bit off as the beginning is a little slow, and then it just becomes a rapid succession of murders. It has a reasonable runtime of under two hours but still feels long.
Unfortunately, this seems to be following the odd trend of underwhelming Netflix exclusives from talented directors, like Jeremy Saulnier’s Hold the Dark, Gareth Evans’ Apostle, and Duncan Jones’ Mute. Of course, there are exceptions like Roma and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but this is still an issue for some reason.
Despite being free, I honestly can’t recommend this to any group of film fans. Horror fans will likely find this to be something they’ve seen tons of times before, and those looking for a more serious drama will be bored by the second half. I can’t even suggest this to fans of the director as it’s easily his worst effort so far.
Critics seem to be a little more positive on the film than I was, giving it a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment