Surveillance is the second film from Jennifer
Lynch, daughter of highly acclaimed director David Lynch. Upon the
release of her first film Boxing Helena, many wondered whether the
genius of her father would come across in her own works, seeing as
she has been an inspiration to the man himself in the past. Could
Jennifer Lynch bring the same depth behind the camera? Or the same
level of eccentric madness that her father had become known for? For
those wondering, she couldn’t quite. Boxing Helena was a flop
critically and commercially, and led to the many inevitable jokes at
her expense for not being the same film maker her father is. So
fifteen years later Jennifer Lynch decides to have another go, this
time a murder mystery thriller with hints of Rashomon. Can it prove
the doubters wrong?
Not Really.
Surveillance is a film that has some interesting
visual touches and an interesting lead performance by Bill Pullman.
But it is hampered by its story, which starts out fairly interesting
before shooting itself in the foot and devolving into a typical
schlocky light horror movie. The story concerns three people at a
small town police station. One of them is a cop, the other a drug
addict, and the other a little girl. They are there because they
have just witnessed a fairly horrific murder spree by two masked
figures. Two FBI agents descend upon the small town to question the
three witnesses, and each of their stories offer a slightly
different perspective on the events that have happened.
The premise is fairly interesting, and the
performances are all quite good. The aforementioned Pullman is
marvellously unhinged, and French Stewart gives a noteworthy display
as a sinister corrupt cop. Stewart and his partner pull off their
unsettling roles really well and are the most interesting characters
in the film. In fact if the film delved more into their motives it
would probably be altogether more interesting. The main problem with
the film is just after the halfway point. A big twist is telegraphed
and carried out in a fairly dull fashion. From here the film becomes
a sadistic, gory mess that is only saved by Pullman. It is here that
the body count skyrockets, clunky exposition is dealt out, and
ludicrous lines are spouted out of the characters mouths. This is a
shame as the films sinister overtones at the beginning are quite
well done. The score mixes with the languishing shots of the crime
scene well, and paints an ominous picture. There are even a few
accomplished “Lynchian” visual flourishes in there.
The film eventually destroys itself, and plods
along to its all too obvious conclusion. The good will the film
built up in its strong opening has vanished, and we are left with a
stock standard horror film. Lynch came close to making a film that
is suspenseful, well told, and well shot, but ended up with an
incredibly mixed result. Stewart and Pullman make the film
interesting, but not enough to highly recommend it. Maybe in another
15 years time Jennifer Lynch will unleash a masterpiece, and her
back catalogue will be labelled misunderstood genius. For now though
Surveillance is neither misunderstood, nor genius. It’s just a run
of the mill suspense flick with a crappy final act.
The disc contains no special features, apart from
a theatrical trailer.
