I saw a trailer for this movie on another DVD that I had checked out from the library. It looked kind of good, so I reserved it.
Under the Silver Lake, a neo-noir film set in contemporary East L.A., has intrigued me so much that I’ve watched it twice, and I’ve ordered a copy of the DVD from Amazon. An unusual thing for me: I don’t often purchase DVDs.
The film was written and directed in 2018 by David Robert Mitchell. He’s best-known for It Follows, a 2014 horror film. I’m not a fan of horror, so Under the Silver Lake is the first movie of Mitchell’s that I’ve seen. But I do like neo-noir if it’s done well.
And it is done very well here.
The movie stars Andrew Garfield, who is its main focus. Everyone else in the movie is in a supporting role, although Riley Keough gets costar billing.
Garfield plays a scruffy young guy who’s behind on his rent and his car payments and who lies to his mother during her frequent phone calls about the fact that he no longer has a job.
His apartment complex and the neighborhoods of East L.A. come closest to being the real co-stars here, although Riley Keough’s character is the young woman whose disappearance sets off Garfield’s pursuit of the many, deepening mysteries that ensue.
I don’t want to give away the plot, what I’ve figured out of it so far. But I do want to draw attention to a key character in the movie, who writes the ‘zine called Under the Silver Lake, which gives the movie its title.
That ‘zine writer is played by Patrick Fischler, an amazing actor who I first saw in David Lynch’s 2001 film, Mulholland Drive, which is one of my all-time favorite movies.
There’s also plenty of eye candy here:
If you’re into movies with a star who gives an understated yet emotional performance, great cinematography with saturated colors, lots of mysterious happenings and coincidences, and novel conspiracy theories, then Under the Silver Lake is a movie for you.
Let Us Live Like We Mean It! 