Considering David Robert Mitchell's debut film It Follows (2014) marked him as one third of horror cinema's hottest trifecta (along with Jennifern Kent's The Babadook (2014) and Richard Eggers' The Witch (2015)), his sophomore effort, Under the Silver Lake (2018), was something of a disappointment for yours truly. What's really heartbreaking about it are the numerous elements and ideas introduced which are greatly appealing: ranging from cryptic codes, Hollywood's elitism, mysterious tunnels beneath L.A and etc, feeling squandered after having to sit through its long running time.
The problems with Under the Silver Lake really do lie with Mitchell punching above his weight, since its premise feels overly ambitious in his hands and all too random; resulting in many of the film's questions either remaining unanswered, or given the quintessential ambiguous treatment; which is a familiar cop-out whenever a film maker over extends their reach. Also, when fans are having to resort to external sources like the internet in order to decypher hidden meanings and messages just to fill the gaps, then that defeats the objective of any good mystery, in my opinion.
What Under the Silver Lake does have, however, is a fantastic scene where Adam Garfield's wasteman meets the mysterious, Illuminati-like songwriter. He is the architect to many classic songs and jingles glorified in popular culture. It's a compelling scene where the old timer tinkers away on his piano while simultaneously crushing Andrew Garfield's very soul. The realisation that those beloved songs Garfield cherished were like disposable fodder to the elderly songwriter, makes this scene pure gold.
Managed to revisit Under the Silver Lake again recently, and while this time around the experience kind of cushioned the blow, its flaws are still apparent. A real shame, as it potentially could have been one of the best films of the 2010s, if Mitchell had a bit more experience under his belt.