13 Most Pretentious Movies Of All Time
4. Under The Silver Lake
Okay, this is actually a pretty sad one because Under the Silver Lake is a brilliant movie... for about three quarters of its run time. After that it swiftly disappears all the way up inside itself.
Under the Silver Lake feels like it has no idea what message it's trying to get across to the audience. Sam is a total creep, and a peeping tom, that combined with a few other elements initially suggests we're watching a movie about toxic masculinity and the advantage men have - and use - over women... oh, wait, it's not?
It's about trying to ascribe significance to events that don't actually have any significance because you feel your life lacks direction or meaning, got it. Wait, what? It's about the fact that nothing we enjoy or create is actually original... and it's sort of an attack on capitalism? Wait, wait, it's not? Now it's about... hippies or something?
What is going on in this movie, man?
Under the Silver Lake tries to take on way too much, and it's also arrogant enough to think it has the right to. As a result, what could've been a good bit of surreal cinema turns into a self-indulgent bit of turgid garbage. Shame it couldn't have ended where it should have...or literally any of the other five opportunities it had after that first ending.