All That Glitters Is Not Silver

A couple weeks ago I advised passing on the latest blockbuster and walking down the multiplex hall to the indie film with three or four viewers. I neglected to follow my own advice when Under the Silver Lake was up against Avengers: Endgame last spring, but I made up for it yesterday by spinning up a DVD of the flick. *SPOILERS* of a sort follow, though more regarding the film’s subtext than text.

Anyone seeing this movie without any prior knowledge of it is likely to think right at the outset, “Oh, a David Lynch movie.” It’s not. The director is David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) whose homage to Lynch is so close as to be initially distracting; fortunately, enough transpires on screen for that reaction to fade.

The protagonist Sam (Andrew Garfield) is jobless, behind on his car payments, and facing eviction. He makes no effort at all to rectify this. So, at first glance he is a slacker loser. Yet this is not quite right. He is energetic and diligent at pursuing his interests. Those interests just don’t include the banalities of everyday responsibilities. He is charming enough to do very well with the ladies (including Riki Lindhome) despite his impecunity. He has enough boyish charm to keep viewers in their seats, too, even though he is often creepy and sometimes villainous. He spies on a topless middle-age neighbor even (driving home the Freudian element) while talking to his mother on the phone. When kids vandalize his car he punches them – hard. We see him commit homicide; granted, the fellow had shot at him, but retreat was very much an option. There is a dog killer stalking the neighborhood, and (though the killer is not identified) there is reason to wonder if he is Sam.

Sam’s real interest is a common one in our secular world: a search for meaning beyond just drudgery and paying bills. As a friend remarks to him, “Where's the mystery that makes everything worthwhile? We crave mystery, 'cause there's none left.” Not everyone handles nihilism well; they frequently find some obsession (politics is a favorite) to divert themselves from it. Sam wonders if there is a conspiracy of in-people who run the world for their own benefit and have access to deeper revelations that they keep to themselves. This is his obsession. He begins to see secret codes everywhere by which the insiders communicate with each other. Some of his hypothetical codes are crazy even in the context of the movie (e.g. Vanna White’s eye movements), but some turn out to be real, such as messages recorded backwards on popular music. When a neighbor Sarah (Riley Keough) with whom he has a flirtation disappears, a symbol is left behind on the wall of her apartment. Sam’s investigation of her disappearance gives him real leads to the conspiracy, thereby putting himself and others in danger.

The movie makes no mention of the Illuminati, but in the real world there are people with views similar to Sam’s who do believe in them. Suppose they exist. Suppose that underneath their worldly machinations there is an occult purpose. What if, after arduous effort, you discovered the secrets of the Illuminati only to find they are as credible as those of the Nike-wearing Heaven’s Gate guru? Depending on one’s mindset, the revelation could be shattering.

FYI, there are a lot of self-referential hidden codes in the movie, but none of them are important. (Animal images share first letters with the title, for example.) Only bother with them if you enjoy puzzles of that kind for their own sake.

This surrealistic noir is definitely not for everyone. Yet there is more to it than will be found in the CGI battles of the spandex superheroes who dominate the box office.

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