Under the Silver Lake (2018)

Andrew Garfield: The central character, played by Andrew Garfield, is a scruffy boyish 33-year-old dude named Sam, and from what we can tell he does absolutely nothing. He has no job or ambition, nothing resembling a structure to his life.

David Yow: A smeary derelict named the Homeless King comes to meet Sam and lead him to a series of underground tunnels.

Story: A young man searches for a neighbor who mysteriously disappears, launching him on a journey into a dark and delirious Los Angeles underworld.

Cinematography: Average

Screenplay: Not upto the mark

Direction: David Mitchell bakes post-modern flourishes into the film itself. It Follows composer Disasterpiece pastiches 1950s Hollywood orchestral scores for his flowery, foreboding soundtrack; whip-pan camera moves, slow-fade transitions and painted backdrops evoke the filmmaking craft of yesteryear; and the production design details cram the frame with telling clues to the poly-stylistic affectations of this mixed-up, confused generation.

Under the Silver Lake (2018): “Under the Silver Lake” is a down-the-rabbit-hole movie, at once gripping and baffling, fueled by erotic passion and dread but also by the code-fixated opacity of conspiracy theory. The movie is impeccably shot and staged, with an insanely lush soundtrack that’s like Bernard Herrmann-meets-Angelo-Badalamenti-on-opioids.

Review by Shreya Ghosh