'Under the Silver Lake' mini-review — To live and trip in L.A.

Under the Silver Lake follows an aimless slacker as he unravels a mystery following the disappearance of his neighbor.

90-second review: Under the Silver Lake alternates between being incredibly compelling and frustratingly confused. It misses the assuredness of director David Robert Mitchell's masterpiece film debut It Follows, because he has to spend so much time navigating the tricky world he created. Sometimes he's successful — particularly when he explores the series of elite Hollywood parties surrounding indie-pop band "Jesus and the Brides of Dracula" — and sometimes he gets distracted by the weirdness of it all.

The tone reminds me a lot of Boots Riley's political satire Sorry to Bother You, but unlike that film Under the Silver Lake lacks the point-of-view and narrative clarity to pull it off. In other words, it's underdeveloped. Mitchell has so many ideas — both thematic and cinematic — that he wants to explore, which explains the bloated 2 1/2 hour running time. When he focu…