In spite of its pedigree as writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s follow-up to surprise horror hit It Follows – and the fact that it played in competition at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival – Under the Silver Lake was only accorded a token theatrical release this past spring (if being shown in two theaters for all of a week even qualifies as “token.”) This is a shame because the Los Angeles-set neo-noir is easy to get engrossed in or — more to the point — lost in, much like Andrew Garfield’s unemployed amateur sleuth becomes consumed by the mystery of what happened to a pretty neighbor (Riley Keough) who made more of an impression on him than he did on her.
Unpacking Silver Lake’s byzantine plot would not only be a fool’s errand, but antithetical to Mitchell’s purposefully discursive modus operandi. And those put off by its extended running time can rest assured that it eventually comes to satisfying conclusion, even as Mitchell sends his in-over-his-head-from-the-word-go protagonist down more than a few blind alleys on the way there. If you have Amazon Prime or access to Kanopy, you can watch it there. If you’ve already seen it, that’s probably how you did.