The Long Hello: A24 Moves UNDER THE SILVER LAKE Again

I flat out loved Under the Silver Lake at Fantastic Fest. A sprawling, weirdo cinematic break up record, it filters classic noir cinema through this hazy prism of getting high in the Hollywood hills while listening to R.E.M. Judging from the early reviews out of Cannes (not to mention Leigh, who was, uh, unimpressed with the picture), It Follows writer/director David Robert Mitchell's latest is not going to be for everyone. According to A24, it may not be for anyone, as the distributor has shifted the movie's release date AGAIN.

After gifting Mitchell's Andrew Garfield-fronted stoner mystery a high profile summer date, complete with trailers and shit that actually played in theaters, they bumped it back to December 7th. A rumor started floating (possibly stemming from Anne Thompson's IW article suggesting as such) that Mitchell might be recutting the movie, but I asked him at FF (during a near 30-minute interview that will drop closer to release) and he said that the movie that played at Cannes is his finished edit, and there are no current plans to alter that. 

Now, A24 has moved Under the Silver Lake to April 19th, 2019, which, in all honesty, is kind of a better date for it. Now, the 150-minute head-trip is positioned on a stoner holiday (where it belongs), away from the hustle and bustle of both Blockbuster and Awards Season. This could also give the studio a chance to maybe play the movie at Sundance or SXSW and garner some positive WOM (not to mention mock up some "headier" marketing), should anything change regarding the runtime. 

Hopefully, this is the last shift, as Michell's idiosyncratic piece of art is totally worth our readers' time, regardless of whether they enjoy it or not in the end. Under the Silver Lake is a picture that operates on its own wavelength, and is almost destined to become a genuine cult object because of its reluctancy to walk anything but a personal, emotional and intellectual narrative line.

Stay tuned, y'all.