Under the Silver Lake (4½ Stars)

This is the 20th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

"Under the Silver Lake" is the film I was most looking forward to in this year's film festival. The trailer (which I'd seen at least five times in the cinema) fascinated me. The film almost lived up to my expectations. Almost, but not quite. I think the film has too much humour. I would have preferred it if it had been played completely seriously. That's the only reason I've deducted half a star.

Andrew Garfield plays Sam, a young man who lives in an apartment building in Los Angeles. He falls in love with another resident that he sees in the building's swimming pool late at night. They arrange to meet again the next day, but when he arrives at her apartment the next morning, only a few hours later, she's moved out. Her furniture and everything else is gone. Who moves out in the middle of the night?

Sam becomes convinced that there's a giant conspiracy going on around him. He thinks that there are secret messages being passed around that only a rich and powerful elite can understand. He finds clues in symbols scribbled on walls, in comic books and in song texts. Someone is killing dogs in Los Angeles in order to fulfil an ancient prophecy. A new rock band, Jesus and the Daughters of Dracula, seems to be involved. The prostitutes in an elite escort agency know more than they admit.

There's a parallel world in Los Angeles. While normal people go about their lives there are others who are living in a different world. Sam wants to find out the truth.