After a series of paintings by an unknown artist are discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art.

Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a star critic in the Los Angeles art world. His blessings can propel sales while his scorn will end careers. We see him at play during an art exhibit convention in Miami and learn all of the players in this niche battlefield at the beginning of the brilliant new film Velvet Buzzsaw that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past week. In a wicked examination of the power of artistic impression and influence, Buzzsaw offers an acerbic look at art world chic while painting a surreal landscape of art gaining power over its keepers.

Josephina (Zawe Ashton) is the underling assistant to powerful art dealer Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo). Josephina is under constant fear of losing her demanding job working for Rhodora when something rather interesting happens. The west coast clatch of art dealers and critics return to their L.A. home and Josephina discovers her neighbor dead, and his apartment filled with his own original, very haunting collection of paintings. Using this as career capital, Josephina introduces the pieces to her boss and their popularity explodes.

Then weird things begin to happen. Deaths to be more specific. At first, the death of a colleague goes mourned but hardly suspect. Then people who have been near or around or have even exhibited the pieces begin to die, mysteriously, one by one. While fellow art dealer and competitor toRhodora Gretchen (Toni Collette) vies for control of a few of the mysterious pieces and veteran artist Piers (John Malkovich) begins to have an artistic crisis, questioning the merits of perceived value and an artist’s pure desire to create.

Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, who collaborated with both Gyllenhaal and Russo on the brilliant Nightcrawler, Velvet Buzzsaw plays like a twisted episode of Night Gallery and Devil Wears Prada. The relentless demand to be ahead of the curve, to call the next great thing, and the intrinsic power that art has over the observer are key themes. That is, of course, not to mention the sharp commentary on snobbish intellectualism. 

Riotously funny, fiendishly clever, and crackling with a creepy story of obsession Velvet Buzzsaw is a cackle-inducing, sexy-as hell thriller populated with amazing performances, sharp filmmaking, and biting wit.