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doomonfilm · 5 years

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Review : Under the Silver Lake (2018)

At long last, Vudu has come through for me. Since the earliest days of this blog, I’ve had a (perhaps unhealthy) fascination with Under the Silver Lake, the trailer I saw early in 2018 that grabbed my attention and would not let go, only to never manifest itself in a theater even remotely near me. The festival buzz was raving, the reviews were positive, and yet, some mysterious issue was keeping me from seeing the movie. Finally, nearly a year and a half later, I have the film in my grasp.

Sam (Andrew Garfield) is a resident of the Silver Lake neighborhood in Los Angeles, where he spends most of his days aimlessly spying on his elderly exhibitionist neighbor (Wendy Vanden Heuvel), spending quality time with his actress friend (Riki Lindhome), wandering around the area with no real purpose, and studying the lore of Under the Silver Lake, a local zine he is fascinated with that talks about local urban legends. One day, Sam meets Sarah (Riley Keough), a beautiful and mysterious young lady he’s seen around for a day or so, and they hit it off beautifully. Just as they are about to get intimate, however, Sarah’s roommates return home, and Sam is asked to leave, but given permission to return the following day. Upon his return, however, he is shocked to find the apartment almost completely emptied, with no trace of Sarah or her roommates remaining, except for a small shoe box full of personal effects (which is retrieved) and a mysterious marking on the wall behind her bedroom door. Sam, being the conspiracy fanatic that he is, finds himself immediately immersed in a deep and winding mystery to discover what happened to Sarah, in hopes of locating her and reconnecting.

For people that love paranoia portrayed on-screen (such as myself), this film is a beautiful fever dream that manages to echo classics like Pi, The Big Lebowski, Magnolia, Vertigo and Sunset Boulevard. The way that the film sets up and immediately doubles down on its narrative stems is wholly engaging, like some sort of quicksand or tractor beam that keeps pulling you deeper and deeper into the story. Like some sort of twisted descent into madness, we follow our main character down a manic rabbit hole as the discoveries he makes hit him deeper and deeper at his core, as if to illuminate his disillusionment.

The web of intrigue spun by this film is truly admirable, as it finds ways to integrate cult-like killer messages, the missing, hobo graffiti, Vanna White, secret messages in the open, zines, pop culture references and so much more into its menagerie. This is more than matched by the diversity of locations visited in the search for the common thread that ties the entire mystery together. The way that Andrew Garfield’s character acquires knowledge and items only to turn around and use them in the manner that a video game character would was certainly not lost on me. It’s almost as if the whole film is a grand, over the top allegory about us learning to ‘read the signs’.

The camera is kinetic, wavering between dynamic push-ins and the use of unique perspective rigs, actually substituting for the perspective of our protagonist, and sometimes going all out artistic with its movements. The lighting gets ultra moody when in the indoor locales and in the nighttime, punctuating the tone of the narrative quite well. The animation portions put us as close to reading a comic as a film can, further helping to establish a sense of lore and mystery in the film. The soundtrack is money, ranging through a collection of songs that would make a college radio DJ proud. If I were a costume or set designer, this would be the type of film that I’d like to put together. The editing carries us along the course of the narrative the way that one would flip pages of the book, with each turn promising more and more revelations from scene to scene. There are tons of references to old and new Hollywood, Los Angeles, and even a pretty funny Spider-Man joke at Andrew Garfield’s expense.

Andrew Garfield’s ‘leaf on the wind’ meets ‘Rainman’ mentality works perfectly for this film, as he seems fragile enough to be pulled along the narrative, but intuitive enough to decipher each riddle along the way. Riley Keough turns the charm and flirtation up for her early brief appearances, providing just enough of a hook for us to dedicate ourselves to Sam’s journey to find her, and the answers surrounding her. Patrick Fischler takes Garfield’s code-mind and amplifies it to the highest degree, coming off just a shade under crazy. Callie Hernandez is another one who maximizes her brief screen time, with her character’s personal tragedy causing a dichotomy that plays against her party-based nature. Jimmi Simpson (one of my favorite actors) hits the ball-busting best friend on the nose, also providing occasional sage advice in offhanded ways. The cast of this film is sprawling, but many of the members make standout appearances, including Don McManus, Jeremy Bobb, Topher Grace, Grace Van Patten, Wendy Vanden Heuvel, Luke Baines, David Yow and a handful of other individuals.

Happily, I can say that Under the Silver Lake (in my opinion) was well-worth the wait. Maybe one day I can find out why it was delayed so long (possibly it was due to the one bit of over the top violence), but regardless, I plan on spreading the word about this one.

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