A24's most misunderstood movie
A24 is one of the few studios in Hollywood trying to change the game, despite making films that have challenged audiences and sometimes been misunderstood.
(Credits: Far Out / A24 / Jason Dent)
Film » Cutting Room Floor
Sun 26 January 2025 9:00, UK
A24 has built a cult following over the years with a unique and simple approach to filmmaking – never-before-seen stories that break the Hollywood mould and do something different. We’ve become inundated with borderline meaningless stories that numb our brains and push us towards a sanitised future in which art exists to appease instead of challenge and enrich us, but the rise of the independent studio has resisted the notion that original stories can’t reach wider audiences.
After the groundbreaking release of Moonlight in 2017, the studio and filmmakers behind the project that quote “niche” films could speak to universal feelings and also be commercially successful. It became one of their highest-grossing films of all time before the release of Everything Everywhere All At Once, which toppled their own records after making nearly $150million at the box office against a budget of $25m.
However, despite having a slate of other highly successful films like Midsommar, Lady Bird and Uncut Gems, the studio has also had its fair share of misses, with one project in particular being received fairly harshly despite being one of my favourites from their collection.
Andrew Garfield always seems to be the man of the moment, with achingly vulnerable and complex performances in The Social Network, Tick, Tick… Boom! and Hacksaw Ridge, becoming known for his deeply introspective and pensive style, both on and off-screen. However, there was one film from his body of work that was met with mixed criticism, which came after his 2018 collaboration with David Robert Mitchell.
Under the Silver Lake is a modern film noir set in the Silver Lake neighbourhood of Los Angeles, following a disillusioned young man called Sam who is about to be evicted. However, after becoming convinced that his beautiful next-door neighbour has gone missing, he sets out on a mission to find her, discovering a hidden conspiracy in the depths of the city.
The film is incredibly trippy and disorienting, with a dizzying look at the adventures of this man as he journeys through the murky undercurrents of mystery that perhaps reveals more about himself than anything else. After directing the hit horror film It Follows, many fans were eager to see how he carried on his filmmaking journey. However, the film has been misinterpreted and disliked by a fair few audience members, with people claiming that it is non-sensical and pretentious (whatever that word means, it is used to describe anything creative these days).
However, I think it is one of those films that was sorely overlooked and misjudged, with an intricate and sinister web of truths and lies unravelling before our eyes as the main character uncovers the tangled roots of his own internalised misogyny, leading him on a quest that confronts him with the commercialisation and exploitation of women in the media.
While it is certainly not an easy film to unpick, the inner messaging is very layered and rewarding, with a clever twist on a classic genre that has typically been less-than-kind to its heroines. I can understand why it was not widely loved after its release, but I hope that it will find new audiences in years to come and be appreciated for its over-the-top and manic sense of genius.
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