David Robert Mitchell

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Lore & Background

The narrative centers on Sam, an aimless 33-year-old obsessed with conspiracy theories who lives in Silver Lake. After spying on neighbors, he notices Sarah and learns of billionaire Jefferson Sevence's disappearance. When Sarah vanishes overnight leaving a symbol meaning "stay quiet," Sam follows clues from a rooftop party featuring the band Jesus & the Brides of Dracula to a secret show at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. He encounters the Balloon Girl, decodes messages hidden in music albums, and meets the self-proclaimed Homeless King who guides him through underground tunnels. The investigation reveals a conspiracy involving wealthy men sealing themselves with three wives in elaborate tombs to "ascend" to another domain. Sarah and her roommates were revealed to be Sevence's wives who faked their deaths, with Sam eventually drugged by tea and interrogated before being released.

In Their Own Story

Sam attacks boys for vandalizing his car before finding Sarah gone the next morning. He chases a stranger to a party where Millicent Sevence leaves after learning her father died in a car fire with three women, one identified as Sarah. Sam visits the Comic Fan, who explains the hobo code and shows him a cereal box map. At the cemetery show, a cookie drugs Sam until he passes out at Janet Gaynor's grave. An actress from "Shooting Stars" recalls Sarah being forbidden from entering a songwriter's home. Decoding a band album leads Sam to Griffith Observatory and then to an underground shelter. After finding the Comic Fan's surveillance footage of the Owl's Kiss, Sam forces the band frontman to admit ghostwriting songs. He kills the Songwriter with Kurt Cobain's guitar after being shot at. Stalked by the Owl's Kiss, Sam is spared when his landlord arrives with a deputy. Following a coyote, he meets Millicent swimming in Silver Lake Reservoir; she gives him a bracelet matching Sarah's before being fatally shot while sinking underwater.

Reader's Guide

Mitchell utilized extensive locations throughout Los Angeles, including the Silver Lake neighborhood, Silver Lake Reservoir, Griffith Observatory, and The Last Bookstore. In October 2016, Riley Keough replaced Dakota Johnson in the cast, with Topher Grace joining soon after. By November 2016, Zosia Mamet, Laura-Leigh, Jimmi Simpson, Patrick Fischler, Luke Baines, Callie Hernandez, Riki Lindhome, and Don McManus joined the ensemble. A24 acquired US distribution rights in May 2016 but delayed the release multiple times: originally June 22, 2018, then December 7, 2018, finally hitting theaters on April 19, 2019, with a video-on-demand release three days later. The soundtrack released worldwide on June 22, 2018, excluding the US where it dropped with the film in 2019. Critics described the film as "Hypnotic" and "bizarre," earning it awards like the Denis-De-Rougemont Youth Award at Neuchâtel and a Special Mention at Sitges.

Did You Know?

• The film was originally scheduled for a US release on June 22, 2018, but was pushed back three times before landing in April 2019.
• Sam beats the mysterious Songwriter to death using Kurt Cobain's guitar after being shot at.
• The symbol painted in Sarah's apartment is a hobo code that specifically means "stay quiet".
• Millicent Sevence sinks underwater in a pose eerily similar to Sam's favorite vintage Playboy cover before she dies.
• Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace) composed the score, continuing his collaboration with Mitchell after It Follows.