'Surveillance' review

David Lynch's daughter follows in her father's eerie footsteps

By Geoff Berkshire

Posted May 28, 2009

Metromix

FBI officers Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman) and Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond) are tracking a pair of vicious killers across the U.S. and arrive at a small town sheriff’s department to hear the statements of three survivors of the latest attack: wounded local officer Jack Bennett (Kent Harper, who also co-wrote the screenplay), drug addict Bobbi (Pell James) and 8-year-old Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins), who was on a family vacation. The three witnesses are separated and interrogated as Hallaway examines their stories for contradictions on closed circuit monitors.

The buzz: This is the second film from director Jennifer Lynch who is best known for two things: being the daughter of David Lynch and the filmmaker responsible for 1993’s controversial flop “Boxing Helena,” a romantic drama about a surgeon who cuts off an ex-lover’s limbs to keep her prisoner. Clearly, like her father, Lynch isn’t interested in the same old storylines, and “Surveillance” premiered in the midnight section of last year’s Cannes film festival.

The verdict: Lynch has clearly learned from her father's knack for crafting eerily unsettling movies, although her instincts seem to favor solid genre thrills over Lynch Sr.'s tendency toward high art. "Surveillance" disturbs from the very start, with an intense opening credits depiction of the criminals' violent acts, and then develops a slow building sense of dread. The film's significant "twist" is telegraphed far in advance, and whether that's intentional or not, the tease actually heightens the tension. The longer a major question lingers unresolved, the more suspense increases for an audience that's ahead of the characters on screen. Before the big reveal unleashes full scale brutality, Lynch keeps things interesting with plenty of dark humor and variations on the theme that no one can be trusted.

Did you know? Lynch's father called her after he read the script and told her he thought the movie's ending was "evil" and she should change it. But she stuck with it anyway.

["Surveillance" is available On Demand from select cable companies, Amazon.com and Xbox Live Marketplace beginning May 29, and is set for a limited theatrical release starting June 26.]