Under The Silver Lake

Under The Silver Lake was the first movie we were able to watch during the Film Festival of Cannes 2018 and we knew that if all the movies were going to be like this new one from David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, The Myth of the American Sleepover) then it would be a crazy festival.

Together with leading actor Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge, The Amazing Spider-Man), Mitchell decided to take us on a very psychedelic trip through his own wonderland.

Sadly, the roads to the land lead nowhere and, because of which, the movie loses its focus once in a while.

Sam (Garfield), is so broke as to not even bother paying his bills instead smoking, drinking and spying on naked women on his block all day.

If you have all the time in the world to watch what happens around you, you start to notice when there’s something new or out of place, and so he does.

When his new neighbour Sarah, Riley Keough (Logan Lucky, Mad Max: Fury Road) arrives, he’s totally intrigued by her. Sadly, she goes as quickly as she came and it’s totally unexpected.

Could her sudden exit out of town have anything to do with the mysterious disappearance of the multimillionaire Jefferson Sevence, Chris Gann (The Walking Dead (TV), XXX). Sam seems to think so and he begins his own investigation into both, very odd cases.

So far so good right? Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. Brace yourself then because things are going to get a lot of more crazier and weirder.

While playing Sherlock Holmes, Sam sees the light and discovers Jesus. No, not Jesus as in the Saint one but Jesus and the Brides, a music group whose songs seems to have mysterious messages.

Sam adds solving the riddles and discovering messages to his “to-do list” . That makes the count of missions increasing to three and it’s not going to stay at the number. No, during Under The Silver Lake it will go up to four, five, six, etc.

Despite the fact that the all of story arcs probably have their purposes in the movie, it’s just too much. You keep forgetting what Sam’s original plan was.

Because of the fact that the first part of the movie focusses on only the missing girl and the strange disappearance of Sevence, Under The Silver Lake starts off as a great movie with a very crazy twist. Sadly, when all of the other story lines are kicking in, it just becomes too messy and too crazy.

Sometimes less is more and that’s certainly the case when it comes to this movie. Not only the story itself but also when it comes to the elements bringing that story to life.

We got to know Sam as the unemployed guy spying on his female neighbours while pleasuring himself and doing another neighbour. Enjoying life in that way isn’t usual and is totally normal.

However, that being sad, those sexual elements are being exploited in Under The Silver Lake for no reason other than to maybe shock.

If shocking would be the main purpose of those elements than the makers didn’t reach their goals because the element of surprise and shock was totally gone after the second sexual related scene.

OK, there were some minor points of criticism but there’s also an incredible amount of amazing things to say about Under The Silver Lake. First of all, the acting performances.

Garfield is superbly captivating as Sam, the young lad who discovers, enjoys and learns about life like any man should do. Riley Keough is also spot on as Sarah, the young and crazy girl that holds a great mystery inside her.

We also want to applaud the visual elements of this movie. Because of the different and very varied story lines, the cinematography and props have to follow. And did that happen? Yes it did. As diverse as the stories were, so were they, so hats off to that.

It’s 50/50 when it comes to the Under The Silver Lake. The story was way too chaotic and some elements were over the top and totally unnecessary but the acting performances, cinematography and visual effects were immensely appealing.

We’re just wondering if the makers of Under The Silver Lake were high on something. If so, then we definitely want a piece of that because they took us an a two hour wild and psychedelic rollercoaster. You should buy a ticket for that ride as well and see for yourself where it takes you.