Surveillance

Surveillance is a new thriller starring Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond. It’s directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch (daughter of director David Lynch).

Two FBI agents (Pullman, Ormond) arrive in a small town in the middle of nowhere to help catch a serial killer. The movie plays out mostly in the police station as they interrogate three witnesses to a brutal killing. There’s police officer Jack Bennet whose partner got killed, there’s meth-addict Bobby whose boyfriend died, and then there’s Stephanie, an eight-year-old girl whose family was brutally murdered. All by two figures dressed in jumpsuits and latex masks.

It started out promising enough, exploring these three witnesses and their very differing views on what went down out there in the desert in a sort of Rashômon-way. It’s bleak and there’s something sinister about this barren landscape. However, make no mistake, this movie completely derails by the half-way point. Not only does the plot not make any sense, there’s a twist near the end which you’d have to be blind not to see coming. And all of this is wrapped in a very violent, very bloody, whollly unpleasant package.

This film is filled with unpleasant people, from the vile and sadistic cops to the overbearing and superior FBI agents. Meth addicts, serial killers, and then Michael Ironside. He plays the police chief, and while it’s good to see him still getting work, he’s not given much to do. The only person in this whole thing who isn’t repulsive is the little girl, and I felt sorry for her throughout.

Pullman and Ormond are so ridiculous and over-the-top I wasn’t quite sure if I was meant to be laughing at them. If I believed Lynch directed this movie with her tongue firmly in cheek, I might be more forgiving, but this movie takes itself so seriously it’s hard to see why I should care at all.

This movie was vile, violent, misogynistic, and distasteful. If you like that sort of thing, by all means check it out. If not, steer clear.