Under the Silver Lake (2019) and L'Avventura (1960)

About this episode

The episode discusses the cult classic 'Under the Silver Lake' and the art cinema film 'L'Avventura', featuring guest James Adamson.

In our fourth episode of The Rise of A24 series, we are covering the newly minted cult classic Under the Silver Lake (2019) and the art cinema bonanza of L'Avventura (1960) Special Guest - James Adamson, the host of the great Double Reel Podcast, a monthly magazine podcast for the discerning film nerd. A24 had a cult following well before it broke into the mainstream in the 2020s. Their surprise win at the 2017 Oscars for Best Picture with Moonlight put them in the spotlight, but they remained resolutely an arthouse company pre-Covid. That’s why their behavior surrounding the marketing and distribution of Under the Silver Lake (2019) is so profoundly bizarre. David Robert Mitchell was coming off his 2015 horror masterpiece It Follows with this twisting absurdist L.A. noir starring Andrew Garfield. The whole affair seemed right in A24’s sweet spot. So much so that A24 pre-bought the distribution rights before a single shot was filmed. Then, after the movie played to a muted response at Cannes in 2018, they essentially abandoned it: moving the release date multiple times before finally dumping it onto just two screens in April 2019. What exactly was so unnerving that made A24 bury…

People in this episode

Host: Film Trace

Guest: James Adamson

Topics covered

• A24 films
• cult classics
• film analysis
• Cannes Film Festival
• art cinema
• film marketing
• absurdist cinema

Keywords

• Under the Silver Lake
• L'Avventura
• A24
• film analysis
• Cannes
• David Robert Mitchell
• Michelangelo Antonioni
• cult classic
• art cinema
• film marketing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: A24

Books & works: Under the Silver Lake, L'Avventura, It Follows, Moonlight

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