LICH rating: 
(2.5 / 5)
Director Dan Gilroy sets out in this venture to satirize the high falutin arty world, and gets so engrossed doing it, you’re afraid he’s gotten carried away. But it is in the carrying away of an incognito artist—named Vetril Dease, if you must know—that he segues into arthouse horror. With the characters of Jake Gylenhaal, Rene Russo, Zawe Ashton, Toni Collette, Tom Sturridge, John Malkovich—all very good—and Natalie Dyer, who’s tasked with discovering grotesquely managed murders and screaming her epiglottis out—plotting against each other to lay their hands on the prolific output of the deceased virtuoso, it’s pretty obvious where Gilroy is leading you to. Ultimately, this sheen-coated Netflix outing shows you art is all blood, tears, and sweat, in that order. Much like the justification of its title that becomes a closing point for the movie, it ends up doing what it set out to finger—cloaking pretentiousness in the garb of messaging.
LICH ratings chart
(1 / 5): Don’t bother
(2 / 5): Not too great
(3 / 5): Worth a watch
(4 / 5): Very good
(5 / 5): Drop everything else NOW
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Velvet Buzzsaw is rated A by LICH for violence, language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use.
Velvet Buzzsaw
Director Dan Gilroy Running Time 1h 53min
Writer Dan Gilroy
Stars Jake Gylenhaal, Rene Russo, Zawe Ashton, Toni Collette, Tom Sturridge, John Malkovich, Natalie Dyer
Genres Horror, Mystery, Thriller
