Review: Surveillance

Directed by: Jennifer Lynch

Written by: Kent Harper & Jennifer Lynch

Starring: Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, Pell James, Michael Ironside, French Stewart

Rating: [3/5]

Police investigations typically revolve around the gathering of evidence to get to a conclusion about who committed the crime and bring them to justice. A process involving interviewing witnesses, including those fresh off of experiencing something quite traumatic. What gets displayed in Surveillance certainly falls into the category of traumatic but the feature certainly brings an interesting story that surprises on multiple occasions. 

FBI agents, Elizabeth (Julia Ormond) and Sam (Bill Pullman) have been tasked with investigating a recent unfortunate murder taking place in a rural Nebraska town. As they interview the different individuals who have survived the deadly murders, they learn about the perspectives given by the different characters in the hope to piece together a timeline aiding them in their investigation. 

At times feeling like a police procedural, Surveillance brings us in through the perspectives of these agents in their efforts to discover how to best decipher through all of the information they receive from these characters. Several interviews display some of them have more truth to their story than others. The inconsistencies in the story allow for major doubt to rise during these discussions and therefore make them and the audience look at some of these characters with some concern about what they gain from possibly lying about it. 

As we get these interviews, the screen flashes back to show what actually occurred, which certainly enlightens us about the harsh reality of the truth they encounter. It displays some horrific behavior at the sight of the crime before it all occurred. Seriously, what these men do borders on psychotic in the way they evidently have nothing to do as cops in rural Nebraska. Seeing as only one appears in the interviews, it can be assumed one of them has passed due to the unfortunate event that occurred. Therefore individuals who typically get believed at their word suddenly receive more apprehension as compared to someone like Bobbi (Pell James) who battles with drug addiction. The one telling the truth of the matter switches making for even bigger questions to be raised as a result. 

The narrative essentially serves as a race to figure everything out and whether the FBI agents, Anderson and Hallaway can find a way to piece this all together seeing as the invidious responsible could definitely be out there causing more harm. Tension exists through this feature allowing for the moments in the past where the murder occurs quite uncomfortable as we know the other show will eventually drop and let us know what actually goes on. Getting into all of the detail typically means the killer exists as someone the audience already has seen as some random individual introduced just for painting a villain will not have the impact the feature wanted to elicit through its mysterious storytelling style. 

At the helm of this feature, we have Jennifer Lynch, who is the daughter of David Lynch and while her feature film output has not matched what her father has made, she has carved herself a little corner of the sphere to make her own. Comparing this feature to another work of hers like Chained demonstrates she certainly enjoys navigating in difficult spaces and uncomfortable topics. She gets right into the grizzly meat of her stories and with this feature, she has some gnarly reveals making for something quite conflicting but adding to the desired effect of this feature. With characters mired in doubt in their recollection and memories, you just knew the feature would throw a strange bone out there as a way to resolve everything and it certainly took me by surprise. 

Quite entertaining as a feature, Surveillance carries quite the dreadful circumstance but provides some characters worth following as we try to ascertain the truth of the matter. Navigating between the two timelines helps the audience get ahead of these detectives in deciphering the truth of what transpired allowing for a gradual reveal and making you question everything seen in the film. The sepia-toned presentation provides this grimy feel to the story also accentuating the heat of this hot summer day in Nebraska. Certainly containing some flaws in the execution, this film does not fail in its attempt to give us something to get invested in.