MovieChat Forums > Under the Silver Lake (2019) Discussion > An Alfred Hitchcock / David Lynch / Stan...

An Alfred Hitchcock / David Lynch / Stanley Kubrick mashup

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
16 replies | jump to latest

Alfred Hitchcock because it's a murder mystery! Or is it?

David Lynch because there's a plethora of oddball characters, and an aura of weirdness that hovers over the events and characters.

Stanley Kubrick because no one in this movie is a sympathetic character that we can root for. There's a dispassionate self-absorbed emotional coolness to everyone. (Part of this is due to the LA/Hollywood setting I think...)

It's a hypnotic movie to watch and there are lots of WTF and I-did-not-see-that-coming(!) moments. Still not sure how I feel about it...

[–] halomaniac88 (1736) 5 years ago

good summery, i like its unique vibe

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

Hitchcock. Check.

David Lynch. Check.

Kubrik... I disagree. The 'no one in this movie is a sympathetic character that we can root for' is not a Kubrik feature, it's more like a 60s-70s feature (Kubrik included). Characters were complex and contradictory back then. Modern cinema evolved towards 'good guys' vs 'bad guys', Under the Silver Lake is just an exception, it's more rooted in 70s cinema.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Agree. I personally would replace Kubrick with Paul Thomas Anderson.
However, Anderson is always praising Kubrick as one of his influences so there you have it.

[–] Martoto (5036) 5 years ago

The Kubrick one is good because although the Lynch and the Hitchcock one's are stylistically more intuitive observations, the Kubrick influence has more to do with how audiences, or SK fans, tend to perceive Kubrick's intent about every single aspect of his movies.

It's almost as if Mitchell is trolling a kind of audience member who has seen Room 237 and think it only scratches the surface of what you're really meant to think every frame of it's about.

[–] TheArgentinian (7073) 5 years ago

I got Vertigo/Mulholland Drive/Eyes Wides Shut vibe watching this.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

The David Lynch influences I saw were Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks... all works that featured oddball and vaguely threatening characters.

Several of Hitchcock's movies featured men obsessed with women and/or women that aren't what they seem. Rear Window. Vertigo. Marnie. Many of his movies involve also misdirection where the audience is led to believe one thing, but it turns out to be something completely different.

Weirdly, the Stanley Kubrick influence for me was 2001. All of the characters in 2001 are oddly unemotional -- detached -- despite the fantastic events unfolding around them. Clockwork Orange was another. I've only seen extended clips of Eyes Wide Shut and can get that influence too though.

[–] modica (4169) 5 years ago

Rear Window too.

[–] Cathexis (112) 5 years ago

More like pretty much anyone who ever made a movie in LA. Hitchcock and Lynch are perhaps the most obvious reference points but De Palma, John Carpenter, and Nicholas Ray are other big ones. You could go on and on. Hollywood media/mythology haunts this movie as much as dead stars haunt the narrative itself.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

De Palma, John Carpenter, Nicholas Ray... what examples come to your mind?

[–] Cathexis (112) 5 years ago

Carpenter mainly the "I Can See Clearly" billboard, which alludes to the sunglasses in "They Live" that allow wearers to see the "hidden" ideology embedded in everyday life. Nicholas Ray most obviously in the visit to the Griffith Observatory, with the bust of James Dean playing a significant narrative role. But also in the layout of Sam's apartment complex, with an attractive female neighbor across the courtyard a la "In a Lonely Place." The De Palma connection is more nebulous, and I suppose can be traced back to the Hitchcock influence. But the abundant voyeurism and dangerous, often perverse sexuality are De Palma hallmarks too.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I didn't pick up on these. Sharp observation.

When you mentioned De Palma I vaguely remembered a movie with Melanie Griffith. IMDB tells me it was Body Double. IIRC, it has to do with a guy obsessed with a woman he sees dancing through a window. Can't remember much else about it, but the Hitchcock influence is obvious. Dressed to Kill I remember clearly for its misdirection...

[–] WileyJack (156) a year ago

In Altman’s ‘The Long Goodbye’, Marlowe has a view of his female neighbors’ balcony where they are often seen lounging nude.

[–] AtomicGod (48) 4 years ago

Nice sharp review! I had similar thoughts but you expressed better than i ever could.

[–] Kippito (114) 7 months ago

I thought this movie felt like Eyes Wide Shut and They Live had a baby

[–] Martoto (5036) 7 months ago

That's a great take. I think I might use it if you don't mind.

Chinatown is probably an obvious comparison, with the LA detective story and all that. But it also makes me think of Five Easy Pieces as well for some reason.

[–] Kippito (114) 7 months ago

By all means, I really got the 'They Live' vibe from the uneasy sense that a lot of the characters know something that we don't. Garfield's character is sort of poking a beehive with a stick.