58. Velvet Buzzsaw; movie review

VELVET BUZZSAW
Cert 15
112 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, language, sex

Netflix is beginning to look like the Premier League against even major Hollywood studios in terms of spending power.
Its movies have the highest production values and very often star a gaggle of A-listers.
However, despite the release of a couple of acclaimed pictures (Roma is over-hyped in my opinion), Netflix is not yet a stamp of guaranteed quality.
Indeed, in my view, the studio's latest offering - Velvet Buzzsaw - is a bit of a mess.
This satire on the art world may please those who know something about high-end collections and the cut-throat nature of their sale.
But that is a very niche audience. The rest of us are likely to be a bit lost by Dan Gilroy's progressively more surreal movie.
It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an art critic whose reviews can ensure the take-off or guarantee the wrecking ball to careers.
Consequently, he struts around playing God while the desperate grovel in front of him.
Sex is his weakness, however, and he jumps from the bed of his boyfriend to that of an exotic art house assistant (Zawe Ashton) who is fiercely ambitious.
Her career is stalling when she pilfers the art collection of a dead neighbour who had insisted it should be thrown away.
This gives her leverage with her boss (Rene Russo) and attracts a museum curator and future agent (Toni Collette).
However, with the potential riches of the paintings, comes great peril.
There is a hint of The Picture Of Dorian Gray about Velvet Buzzsaw but what should be a high-quality thriller falls away into a combination of horror cliches and the overwroughtness of the art world.
And that's a pity. With such a brilliant cast (John Malkovich is a bit part player), this should have been so much better than it turns out to be.
By its inevitable conclusion, I couldn't care less whether its unlikeable characters lived or died.

Reasons to watch: All-star cast
Reasons to avoid: A bit too clever at times

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? A visit to a disturbing art show at Dia: Beacon in upstate New York was Dan Gilroy's trigger for Velvet Buzzsaw 

The final word. Dan Gilroy: "The genesis of the idea was being in a contemporary art museum towards closing and really sensing and feeling the power of this art in a disturbing, powerful way."

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