UNDER THE SILVER LAKE [2018] - ANDREW GARFIELD • RILEY KEOUGH • SYDNEY SWEENEY

2hr 20min

Under the Silver Lake is a 2018 American surrealist neo-noir black comedy thriller film written, produced and directed by David Robert Mitchell. Set in 2011 Los Angeles, it follows a young man (Andrew Garfield) investigating the sudden disappearance of his neighbor (Riley Keough), only to stumble upon an elusive and dangerous conspiracy.

Under the Silver Lake premiered on May 15, 2018, at the Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, before being released nationwide in France on August 8. It was released theatrically in the United States on April 19, 2019, by A24. The film received polarized reviews from critics.

Plot

In the summer of 2011, Sam is an aimless 33-year-old in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, more interested in conspiracy theories than paying his overdue rent. Spying on a topless neighbor, Sam notices another neighbor, Sarah, and learns that billionaire Jefferson Sevence has disappeared. Sarah invites Sam over to watch How to Marry a Millionaire, but they are interrupted by her roommates; she suggests he come back the next day, and Sam attacks a group of boys for vandalizing his car.

In the morning, Sam discovers Sarah and her roommates have moved out overnight, with a symbol painted in their apartment. He follows a stranger from the apartment to a rooftop party in Downtown Los Angeles, where a Balloon Girl and the band Jesus & the Brides of Dracula perform. Sam tries to confront the stranger, and Sevence's daughter, Millicent, leaves upon learning her father has died. He is given a cookie as his ticket to the band's private show at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and the news reveals Sevence and three women burned to death in a car, with evidence one of them was Sarah.

Sam visits the Comic Fan, the author of a zine called Under the Silver Lake, who explains that the symbol in Sarah's apartment is a hobo code meaning "stay quiet". The Comic Fan insists that hidden messages are everywhere, possibly connecting Sarah's disappearance, a mysterious Dog Killer, and the Owl's Kiss—a supernatural murderer appearing as a nude woman in an owl mask—and shows Sam a collector's cereal box containing a map of Los Angeles.

At the cemetery show, Sam is required to bite the cookie to enter and meets the Balloon Girl, who knew Sarah. Drugged by the cookie, Sam chases after the stranger but passes out at Janet Gaynor's grave. An actress working for "Shooting Stars" escort service remembers Sarah from a party, where they were forbidden from entering a wealthy songwriter's home. Decoding a message hidden in the band's new album, Sam is led from Griffith Observatory by the self-proclaimed Homeless King to a secret underground shelter, with tunnels throughout the city.

The Comic Fan appears to have committed suicide, but his home surveillance footage reveals a visit from the Owl's Kiss. Taking the cereal box, Sam is brought to a chess party, where he forces the band's frontman to admit that some of his songs were provided by the mysterious songwriter. Balloon Girl and her fellow Shooting Stars lead Sam to the elderly Songwriter, who claims to have ghostwritten history's most popular music, encoded with hidden messages. The Songwriter shoots at Sam when he demands to know who paid him, and Sam beats him to death with Kurt Cobain's guitar.

Stalked by the Owl's Kiss, Sam is spared when his landlord arrives with a sheriff's deputy, giving him one more day before eviction. Following a coyote to another party, Sam meets Millicent Sevence, swimming together in Silver Lake Reservoir. Giving him a bracelet matching Sarah's, Millicent is fatally shot in a pose eerily similar to Sam's favorite vintage Playboy cover. Sam realizes the bracelet is engraved with chess moves, using them to plot coordinates on a Nintendo Power diagram and overlaying the map from the cereal box to reveal an off-the-grid location in the Hollywood Hills.

There, Sam finds the stranger, Troy, and her two friends with a man, who offers him tea and explains that throughout history, wealthy men like him have sealed themselves with three wives in elaborate tombs, including the underground shelter, in order for their souls to "ascend" to another domain. Sarah and her roommates were Sevence's wives, having faked their deaths and already been sealed underground. Speaking with Sam by video phone, Sarah is at peace with her fate. Drugged by the tea, Sam is interrogated by the Homeless King, who is annoyed by dog biscuits in his pocket, but lets him go.

Returning home, Sam has sex with his topless neighbor, whose parrot repeats an incomprehensible word. From her balcony, Sam watches as his landlord and the deputy enter his apartment to evict him, discovering a wall painted with the "stay quiet" symbol.

I found it at my local library. 🤓

Every video must have 20 loud clicks per second!

Trailer at least has music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgUesU1pz4

Where can this be located? Is there a link to grab the whole movie?

I guess you could buy or rent

https://youtu.be/N0fgQGqKwtA?si=wEIUff0P7lZ5vs2V

UTSL is a great film. Highly recommend.