Under The Silver Lake (2018) - An Audacious Watch To The Patient Watcher | Intricate Films

There is astonishing intelligence in 'Under The Silver Lake', a film about a sleazer, who wanders around his sleepy town to find a missing girl. Garfield gives a fantastic performance, an active soul inside a passive protagonist, who is more interested in the mysteries of the world outside than his immediate problems. He needs to pay his rent, find a job ; instead he aimlessly wanders the streets, looking to sleep with the next girl. Garfield's character is lost, a dreamer, who is finally given a purpose when a girl he likes goes missing.

'Under The Silver Lake' is a movie that undoubtedly has courage and ambition, taking its plot to places nobody can expect amd weaving a story around mass conspiracies, subliminal messages and a doomsday plot. The film hurries in the second half, rushing over some plot threads that I would have loved to seen more of but drags in the first, sometimes as aimless as its protagonist. This hurts the movie the most ; its inconsistent pacing. It seemed to pick up pace at a certain point, but drops it a while later. The film has a drifter like feel. It carries itself without a care in the world, at its own pace. The trailers mismarketed this as a slick, black comedy while it is anything but. A patient watcher would, however, certainly enjoy its lived in world, fleshed out characters and unexpected turns.

Garfield's character is a perfect embodiment of the film. From his reluctant walk to his lazy aura, sleepy eyes and messy hair, he is perfect for this film. I loved the setting of the film, the sense of familiarity that you get with only the most intimately crafted of worlds, with characters like 'tThe homeless king', 'Dracula and his two brides', a serial 'dog killer'. Far too many mystery films concentrate only on the plot, while 'Under The Silver Lake' finds itself at home with its wonderfully bizarre creations. 'Why is there a homeless king?', 'How does a coyote even know that?', the film wants you to live in its world and answer these questions yourself.

I think I enjoyed thinking about the movie a little bit more than watching it, forming my theories about its complex, scary world. 'Under The Silver Lake' does not promise a happy end, a solved mystery or even a proper conclusion. What it does offer is a foray into its own insane world, one that is far more sinister than our own. It celebrates and ridicules conspiracies, pleased with itself ; Completely in love with itself. At times, this makes it a little frustrating ; the other times, you wish more films had the sheer audacity to go where 'Under The Silver Lake' does. 'Under The Silver Lake' does not aim to be art, its heart lies in Pulp and it is great Pulp. It is an audacious watch, to the patient watcher.
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                                                               - Arvind Narayanan

The Important characters and their casts :

* Andrew Garfield as Sam, the sleazy, sleepy protagonist who wanders the city in search for a girl.

* Riley keough as Sarah, the missing girl.

* Topher Grace as an unnamed man at the bar who... gives connections...

* Grace Van Patten as a beautiful balloon girl who might know more...

* David Yow as The Homeless King, a bizarre, unexplained character.

Intricate Meter - 7.5/10

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                                                           - Abhyjith and Arvind