Directed by Jennifer Lynch. Starring Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, Michael Ironside, Gill James, Kent Harper, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins, Caroline Aaron. Drama/Mystery. Synopsis: Two FBI agents come into a small town police agency to investigate a string of murders, including a gruesome one on a highway involving two police offers after which the only three survivors have different recollections of just what actually happened.If you rent this one or buy it online or whatever, you will no doubt notice from the DVD cover the description of "twisted and disturbing". And that is exactly what this flick is...no other way to say it.We have a fairly intricate plot, characters who are hard to define or understand, and a story revealed in ambiguous layers until the final twist at the end, which you will know is coming, but you might not know exactly what that twist will be.
Basically, our story starts with the unexplained murder of two people in a remote motel in a dusty town out in the middle of nowhere. We know that there are masked serial killers running around but all is not lost because the FBI is here to help out the small (and, presumably, overmatched) police force. The two agents (Bill Pullman Independence Day Julia Ormond Iron Jawed Angels) are sleek, smart, and seem to have a very close bond with each other, something that causes a little reluctance on the part of the police force in addition to their general distrust of outsiders.
The local police force is led by Captain Billings (Michael Ironside The Machinist) who is determined to find out just what the heck happened out there on the highway with officers Degrasso and Bennett (Gill Gayle and Kent Harper, who also had a writing credit on this one along with director Lynch).
You see, the issue with our two officers is, despite their desire and duty to uphold the law, they are not above breaking it a little themselves, e.g. shooting out the tires of cars that are "speeding" and then having some fun at the expense of the drivers. Its during this time of fun and games, when not one but two cars full of passengers were being toyed with by the officers that the blood shed occurred.
Now, Lynch shoots the highway scene in layers, with use of flashbacks, so that we get only partial glances of just what happened during the course of the film, and then only from the point of view of one of the survivors. We don't see the whole picture until the end, of course, the twist is revealed at the end.
Our FBI agents take over the tiny department, with their focus being on getting videotaped individual statements from the three survivors of the highway massacre; officer Bennett, Bobbi (Pell James Zodiac) a drug addict running from some mischief who lost her boyfriend to the killers, and Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins) a precocious eight year old who lost her parents and brother.
The remaining officers and civilian employee, Janet (Caroline Aaron Primary Colors) watch the two FBI agents do their stuff as the try to get to the bottom of the agendas of each of the three survivors.
Some of you may know that director Jennifer Lynch is the daughter of legendary director David Lynch and while we do see some similarities in their styles, I think Jennifer Lynch has one that is largely her own, in fact on the director's commentary (be warned, Ms. Lynch uses the F-bomb only slightly less than Tony Montana in Scarface) she indicates that her dad thought that the ending of the film was "sick".
I can't go any further in giving you plot points without spoiling it other than to say those who would classify this film as disturbing are likely speaking of the last 15 minutes of the movie, where we get both an express and implied view of the depraved nature of the killers. What does it all mean?
Hell, I don't know, I think one of the good things about they type of films that leave much open to the interpretaton of the aaudience is that we can take so much from the flick, maybe even more than the filmmaker intended.But, for me, Surveillance is trying to say a lot about the closeness of violence and physcial or sexual attraction and desire. I think that it is there as at least an undercurrent throughout the story.
The acting in this extremely good as well as surprising, especially from Pullman and Ormond. I think any of you familiar with their work will probably be like me and say you've never seen either of them like this before. Ironside is his customary tough, humorless character but used in a different way than usual. Pell James really does well in the difficult role as the ultimate object of affection, if I can use that term, of the killer. Ryan Simpkins might just be the best of the lot, because her part calls for so much more than is usually expected or delivered from a child actor this side of Dakota Fanning.
Bottom line: if you like challenging psychological thrillers, I can't recommend this one enough.
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