Under the Silver Lake (2018)

Weird! Weird! Weird! That's probably the best way to describe this almost indescribable movie! That is not necessarily a bad thing especially when you watch as many movies as I do, weird is often times a welcome change from the run of the mill or plotless block busters that gets churned out every day. It captures your attention, and keeps you interested to watch on as the plot unfolds in an unpredictable path. That's when weird is good, and I can honestly say that Under the Silver Lake succeeds in being "good weird" at least for its first half ....

Andrew Garfield is in fine form as an unemployed bum who is about to be evicted from his nice little Los Angeles apartment. He spends his time surveying the women around is apartment, as well as conjure up all sorts of conspiracy theories about hidden messages in just about anything but particular from the music of cult underground bands. The story takes off with the Andrew character being infatuated by a beautiful neighbour parading herself at the poolside one day, who mysteriously disappears the next morning. The first half of the movie takes us on a delightful escapade as he tries to trace the whereabouts of his neighbour. There is subtle humour injected along with various references and homage to film nor and classic directors like Hitchcock to spice things up. Andrew's apartment is adorned with numerous posters of classic movies, and there was even a cheeky reference to his past role as Spiderman thrown in!

However, "good weird" soon became "bad weird" as the plot descended more and more to its ridiculous conclusion. My main gripe is that so many of the bizarre behaviour and incidents that happened throughout the film remained unexplained at the end which means they were there simply for shock reasons or to confuse the audience. Hence, the film's running time was in effect unjustified if they had no intention to tie things up properly. I also objected to the strangely excessive nudity (mostly of women) which I thought were unnecessary apart from providing a voyeuristic purpose perhaps to reflect the mental condition of our main character.

So in conclusion, I have mixed feelings for this movie. I liked the first half, I liked Andrew Garfield's performance, and I thought the soundtrack and camerawork were very interesting. However, I disliked the second half as it got really messy and confusing, and found the conclusion bizarre and with too many loose ends. So, watch with reservation!