UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (2019) ** ½

Under the Silver Lake is a shaggy dog neo-noir detective story that runs along similar paths previously trodden upon by the likes of The Big Lebowski and Inherent Vice.  As with those films, the lead is a slacker who might not get as consistently high as Jeffrey Lebowski or Doc Sportello, but they are all most certainly kindred spirits.  While Under the Silver Lake isn’t quite as captivating as those movies were, it definitely has moments where it threatens to fire on all cylinders. 

Shiftless lay-about Sam (Andrew Garfield) is five days away from being evicted from his LA apartment complex, but he seems to spend more time spying on his neighbors than looking for a job.  One day, he meets a cute new neighbor Sarah (Riley Keough) and they wind up spending a pleasant evening together.  The next morning, she and her roommates mysteriously vanish without a trace.  Sam then takes it upon himself to find her, even if it means potentially unraveling society as we know it. 

The plot juggles a lot of apples.  There’s the business about the neighborhood dog killer, a missing Hollywood mogul, supposed subliminal messages in a local goth band’s music, etc.  They all could potentially be connected, and I won’t spoil how things shake out, but I ultimately felt the mystery had too many pieces that didn’t fit.  Then again, the movie is more about the importance of having a mystery to solve and not really about the mystery itself.  I think.

If that makes sense.  

I was not a fan of director David Robert Mitchell’s previous film, It Follows.  I will say his quirky style is more suited to a lackadaisical detective story than a horror flick, although he still shows off his horror roots here and there.  (Most notably during the dream scenes.)  While he doesn’t stick the landing, and the film is ultimately less than a sum of its parts, there are enough weird, surreal stretches to make it semi-worthwhile. 

The film is already something of a cult item, and it’s easy to see why.  Repeated viewings will probably help piece together the assorted cryptograms and hidden messages that lurk on the corners of the story.  I’m not exactly itching to watch it again immediately, but I could see myself revisiting it down the road, which is a helluva lot more than I can say for the wildly overpraised It Follows.