If anyone had asked me exactly one year ago about my most anticipated movie of 2018, I probably would have answered David Robert Mitchell's "Under the Silver Lake". He directed one of my favorite horror films of this decade so far ("It Follows"), and this film stars Andrew Garfield, one of my favorite actors of his generation. What could possibly have gone wrong?
Well, just like it's the case with many other directors who came up with an immense hit for their first major film, Mitchell also struggled to come up with an equivalent amount of quality for his next feature film. It's not like his talent has vanished altogether; his style was even more prevalent in "Under the Silver Lake" and I absolutely fell in love with the directing, the atmosphere and his unmissable attention to details. However - and I don't like to write "however" in a review of a film I was so ready to love - all this doesn't help if the film a) has no plot whatsoever or b) has nothing to say whatsoever. And in this film, a) and b) were actually combined. It was really hard to follow the movie through its random segments, its messy, scrambled fragments and all the meaningless sex scenes. I am no prude at all, but throughout the first half of the film, to roughly 50% I was basically watching porn. There was so much room for scenes to be left on the cutting floor: there really wasn't any reason for "Under the Silver Lake" to be 140 minutes long.
The basic plot revolves around a vanished girl and a young, aimless man's quest to solve the mystery of her disappearance. (Some spoilers ahead.) I wouldn't have minded the lack of a resolution if the ending had been left somewhat ambiguous. But it wasn't, it was all explained, and absolutely none of it made ANY sense at all. I'm pretty sure the writers must have been on drugs, because there was no other way to come up with something so weird, senseless and dull. (End of possible spoilers.)
Frankly, the movie never became boring; there was always something to catch your interest. But the restless hope that all the scattered scenes would ultimately be woven together and suddenly all make sense again wasn't fulfilled. We were just left hanging in the air in the end, which is exactly what disappointed me so much. That doesn't mean, however, that I didn't also enjoy this film for what it was worth. The directing was exceptional and perhaps even better than in "It Follows". The cinematography by Mike Gioulakis is one of the best I have seen throughout the entire year. I loved the neo-noir atmosphere and the attention to all the classics of film history, from "How to Marry a Millionaire" over "A Farewell to Arms" to Hitchcock's classics (when in fact, the entire film could also work as a single homage to Hitchcock's works, especially the car chase scene which was obviously inspired by "Psycho", and the setting which was obviously inspired by "Rear Window"). The score was amazing and another great aspect about the film. The acting was also pretty solid, with Andrew Garfield being the obvious stand-out.
Overall, I can't say I didn't enjoy "Under the Silver Lake"; I had been anticipating to watch it for a long time and was more than excited when it was finally released to German cinemas. Watching it in a cinema only enhanced the experience from a technical view-point, as the visual as well as the sound-technical work were some of the best I have seen this entire year, but the lack of a better screenplay cannot be replaced by the benefits of great technical work alone, and so I can't help but feel like this was a disappointment. My only hope is that David Robert Mitchell's next work will be more coherent and a return to form again, because he certainly has the potential and the talent for more.
Well, just like it's the case with many other directors who came up with an immense hit for their first major film, Mitchell also struggled to come up with an equivalent amount of quality for his next feature film. It's not like his talent has vanished altogether; his style was even more prevalent in "Under the Silver Lake" and I absolutely fell in love with the directing, the atmosphere and his unmissable attention to details. However - and I don't like to write "however" in a review of a film I was so ready to love - all this doesn't help if the film a) has no plot whatsoever or b) has nothing to say whatsoever. And in this film, a) and b) were actually combined. It was really hard to follow the movie through its random segments, its messy, scrambled fragments and all the meaningless sex scenes. I am no prude at all, but throughout the first half of the film, to roughly 50% I was basically watching porn. There was so much room for scenes to be left on the cutting floor: there really wasn't any reason for "Under the Silver Lake" to be 140 minutes long.
The basic plot revolves around a vanished girl and a young, aimless man's quest to solve the mystery of her disappearance. (Some spoilers ahead.) I wouldn't have minded the lack of a resolution if the ending had been left somewhat ambiguous. But it wasn't, it was all explained, and absolutely none of it made ANY sense at all. I'm pretty sure the writers must have been on drugs, because there was no other way to come up with something so weird, senseless and dull. (End of possible spoilers.)
Frankly, the movie never became boring; there was always something to catch your interest. But the restless hope that all the scattered scenes would ultimately be woven together and suddenly all make sense again wasn't fulfilled. We were just left hanging in the air in the end, which is exactly what disappointed me so much. That doesn't mean, however, that I didn't also enjoy this film for what it was worth. The directing was exceptional and perhaps even better than in "It Follows". The cinematography by Mike Gioulakis is one of the best I have seen throughout the entire year. I loved the neo-noir atmosphere and the attention to all the classics of film history, from "How to Marry a Millionaire" over "A Farewell to Arms" to Hitchcock's classics (when in fact, the entire film could also work as a single homage to Hitchcock's works, especially the car chase scene which was obviously inspired by "Psycho", and the setting which was obviously inspired by "Rear Window"). The score was amazing and another great aspect about the film. The acting was also pretty solid, with Andrew Garfield being the obvious stand-out.
Overall, I can't say I didn't enjoy "Under the Silver Lake"; I had been anticipating to watch it for a long time and was more than excited when it was finally released to German cinemas. Watching it in a cinema only enhanced the experience from a technical view-point, as the visual as well as the sound-technical work were some of the best I have seen this entire year, but the lack of a better screenplay cannot be replaced by the benefits of great technical work alone, and so I can't help but feel like this was a disappointment. My only hope is that David Robert Mitchell's next work will be more coherent and a return to form again, because he certainly has the potential and the talent for more.