Art museums are large spaces with abstract pieces on the wall which are ideas from artists souls, minds and hearts. It’s this very place where most of Velvet Buzzsaw is set and I’m starting to wonder why I haven’t seen many other horror/thrillers set in this world. In a world where it isn’t an entity or a person attacking someone but instead the person’s creative spirit and mind.
Look at it however you will but Velvet Buzzsaw follows the story of a group of artists, collectors and critics who have all stumbled upon the art of a recently deceased man. The art work is a miraculous find until the art starts playing up as people start suspiciously dying. You can view it as a horror/thriller or you can view it as a discussion on how we view things like art and films, how we steal ideas and how we become to obsessed in our own lives and don’t appreciate others around us as we can become to self indulgent and isolated actual society.
The paintings are shot in quite a fascinating way where they will change form as the camera pays more attention to them. It’s something that I have only seen once before, the Doctor Who 50th anniversary where the paintings became three dimensional. The first painting we see come to life opens up like a window into world of the painting as monkeys start to attack it’s onlooker. It creates an extra aspect of horror to the film as I will never stare at paintings for long periods of time again.
The composition of Velvet Buzzsaw is by far it’s best part. Going in I knew it was a horror/thriller but it feels like any other film about the art world. Following brilliantly played characters around as they seem like the type of people you only hear stories about or the type of people you hear gossip about. Jake Gyllenhaal, who is reteaming with the director Dan Gilroy after their film Nightcrawler, is an absolute stand out as Morf who is an art critic battling his own demons with the reviews he writes and how they affect people.
The main discussion point I grasped from the film is the way people control others voices. The artist who made the paintings has an unknown background and his voice is lost in people who claim ownership over the paintings. His background riddled with mystery yet attempted to be explained by his mystical paintings. I myself as a reviewer have felt the pressures that a character like Morf faces with having to review something and whether reviewing something and it’s meaning could be against what the creator likes to hear about their project.
Velvet Buzzsaw then also becomes a beautifully shot and presented message about seeing things for yourself and maybe not always focusing on the thoughts of others. Many times I’ve reviewed a film and not sent the review to the marketing team because well they don’t want to see the one star review but I still want to be able to review their content early. That is my own horror in my work life and its something I get caught up in. In Velvet Buzzsaw the characters become so worked up in furthering their profits and careers that they fail to appreciate whats around them.
Velvet Buzzsaw is a fantastic film that Netflix has managed to add to their collection. It’s a great horror/thriller that you’ll want to watch a few times. It’s the type of film that only comes along every once in a while, similar to how I like to watch the film Prisoners every so often. The film is different enough and bold enough to stand out from the crowd and it probably deserves more attention then it’s getting but if the plot of the film is anything to go by then maybe it’s getting the right amount of attention.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to take down all the art in my flat.