By: Keaton Marcus

PREFACE:

A24 and David Robert Mitchell's Under the Silver Lake, unfortunately, buried and forgotten after its release only to gain somewhat of a cult status recently, is a film that I will always fiercely defend. Half of the critics and audiences who viewed the movie smashed it with seething critiques. Yep, it's pretentious, messy, hammily performed, and runs at a criminally overlong 140 minutes, and that's precisely the point. Intentionally self-aware indulgence is a technique Mitchell uses to alienate and even irritate audiences without enough willpower, and that's what caused such polarizing reactions. This mind-boggling work of art is about...a lot, stuffing as much as possible in only one feature. It employs commentaries on Hollywood, pop culture, conspiracy, sex, the degradation of women, the hierarchy of class, mental illness, homelessness, obsession, and a lot of other mindfucking material.

LACK OF DIRECTION:

This film consists of all the themes I just mentioned, but it's mainly focused on the Hollywood entertainment industry. It has an infatuation with how the industry affects both people working in it and the culture around it. Under the Silver Lake concentrates on Sam, a fragile, lonely, lost, and voyeuristic young man who searches for purpose and any sense of idea to latch on to, getting caught in an absurd conspiracy along the way. He fills his emotional void and lack of direction in life through casual sex with various women, looking for clues anywhere possible (including the television series Wheel of Fortune). He desires anything meaningful to do in his whimsical, banal existence, and that is exactly what the mystery of the film brings him. Although the movie is more or less ambiguous on the matter, he likely kills dogs for a hobby too. Ultimately, Sam represents everything wrong with the younger generations today, and probably a person everyone in the same age group can relate to (in some minor sense). This lack of identity perpetuates his actions, with the movie also functioning as an examination of existentialism in Millennials. However, Sam isn't exactly a sympathetic character. He lies, probably murders animals, and has zero respect for anyone but himself. His significant flaws as a person make the journey into surrealistic Los Angeles that much more compelling.

THE CONSPIRACY:

The actual conspiracy/mystery itself studies a secret organization that hides coded messages in movies, music, and television, which again leads back to the critique of Hollywood. The men behind all the messages entomb themselves with women in belief that they will ascend to wealthier heaven and be regarded as literal Gods in the next generations. It seems unrealistic and too batshit crazy for its sound, but ponder this for a moment. Cults such as Scientology are pretty out of their mind as well. All the insanity seems to connect to the real world if one stops and connects the dots for a moment. The movie presents an industry fixated on controlling what people do and how people act, enamored in public opinion and legacy. It forces audiences to see that the most influential people in the world aren't always on our side. They rarely are. With the money and control, they have, taking them down has been nearly impossible. The heinous conspiracies of Epstein, Weinstein, the sexual abuse in Boston churches, and many more are simply real-life examples of what wealthier people can get up to without much consequence. Under the Silver Lake merely expands on that and turns these crimes to a far higher volume.

TURNING THE GENRE UPSIDE DOWN:

Usually, one would expect something big and grand to happen after our main character solves this mystery, but Mitchell subverts our expectations and topsides them. Instead, despite Sam's theory ending up correct, his life isn't significantly changed or affected in any way. Perhaps he has the satisfaction of achieving something complex, but it ends without true meaning. He kills the man who's been hiding clues in pop culture, discovers the cult, and even attempts to save the women who they had kidnaped. However, it turns out that she didn't even want to be saved at all. It's too late, and she's accepted her fate, devastating Sam. This isn't your typical mystery film, without any real pay-off or catharsis provided to viewers, and that's understandably enough to drive people away from admiring it all. On the other hand, it is a complete and complex deconstruction of how the line between seemingly fictional and real conspiracies can blur.

SOLUTION, NOT TRUTH:

What's worth taking a peek at is the journey Sam took to solve the mystery mentioned above. The manners in which he discovered the clues are over-the-top and ridiculous, much like this entire movie, and as silly as it may seem, it provides us with a more profound message. What could this deeper meaning be conveying? I would argue that the film is saying knowing every little detail is impossible. For example, we'll never know the full extent of real-life conspiracies, exploitation, or truly apprehend the people who control what we casually consume every day. This possible criminal activity may be solved as a whole, but the minute roadmap that led to these will never be entirely uncovered. People may criticize this argument for being hopeless and even nihilistic, but it's quite the opposite. It ties back into how Sam ends up after solving everything. Nothing's changed. He's discovered everything, but no solution to his life issues was provided. The movie is telling viewers not to follow in the path of this man, so obsessed with finding the entirety that he forgot what he wanted to do in the first place. The conspiracy became a merely temporary distraction from his awful boredom, but nothing more extraordinary.

WHAT WE WATCH:

I assume almost every person reading this is a self-proclaimed movie buff. We aren't the same, but there is one universal interest that binds us, and that's the love of cinema. Under the Silver Lake is no doubt a product of the industry it criticizes, but that does not stop it from absolutely destroying the very world we loved. Corrupt people have influenced so many movies I adore in positions of power, some brought down and others not. I keep watching them, but it feels strange, perhaps even wrong. Whether Harvey Weinstein produced it, Roman Polanski directed it, or Kevin Spacey acted in it, it's difficult to separate the art from the artist. Anyway, putting it on a silver platter, this movie that I'm analyzing is principally saying that the art we consume is affected in some way by horrible human beings. It's no doubt harsh and shocking in a wholly negative sense, but it's entirely correct in another. Every day, we support evil, and it has become impossible to stop. This is a thought-provoking, incredibly underrated masterpiece, with so much to say and many thematic layers. It left me pondering what I had just experienced after viewing and already made me want to re-watch it multiple times.