Under the Silver Lake is a 2018 comedy thriller about a young man who tries to track down a beautiful girl he met once that disappears without a trace overnight and ends up on a surreal quest throughout Los Angeles.
Following the success of indie horror It Follows, David Robert Mitchell takes his unique vision to his latest project, Under the Silver Lake and casts Andrew Garfield as the main lead Sam. It’s ambitious to say the least, loaded with clever pop culture references and filmed in some great Los Angeles backdrops. There are also injections of comic strip moments as it follows the works of an author who tells the story of “Under the Silver Lake” and other legends hidden in the city. There are colorful and whimsical characters who cross paths with Sam and truly embrace the black comedy. And finally, perhaps most appreciatively, it embraces classic Hollywood in how its shot and costumed.
With all that said, it is hard to not like it, except it also is easy to get a little lost because as offbeat as the story is meant to be, it is also a bit disjointed. Sam goes on a journey that feels see a lazy-ish unambitious young man falling into his own version of Alice in Wonderland, taking him from one set piece to the next including parties, cemeteries, secret tunnels and even a secluded mansion with an old man who claims he created all the most popular tunes of the last few decades.
Despite that, Andrew Garfield delivers a decent performance, though Sam is honestly, pretty bland. It is hard to be invested in a movie where the main character like this where even moments of danger usually end in some form of black comedy resolution, never feeling like the guy is in any peril. On top of that, one might question why he gets into all these fancy parties dressed only in scruffy t-shirts and even pajamas. It is hard to root for someone we barely care for but somehow gets lovely ladies to just see some charm in. Sure, there are hints that Sam isn’t as shallow a character as it seems, and occasionally, he recognizes his sense of failure as he hides away the truth about his life and regrets.
At the end of the day though, Under the Silver Lake is a slow-paced yet ambitious piece of cinema. It’s unique and surrealistic dive into the whimsical underbelly of Los Angeles has its charm though it isn’t going to be for everyone, especially when the story itself feels so out of place. I just wish there were more reasons to get behind his search because at certain points it feels like even the story makes him forget what was the main goal in the first place. Perhaps if you squint between the lines, Under the Silver Lake is metaphorical about society and a lack of direction and how it just takes one little thing to change it all around.