Surveillance – Darkness runs in the family

In case you don’t know, the writer/director of ‘Surveillance’ is Jennifer (daughter of renowned master of the surreal David) Lynch.  So, if you’ve seen anything from Blue Velvet to Mullholland Drive (or any other of ‘Daddy’ Lynch’s work, you’ll probably know what to expect from his offspring.

Like her father, she delves deep into places most of us would rather not go.  Here, two FBI agents arrive in a small town, hot on the trail of a couple of wanted serial killers.  Unfortunately, they’re too late to stop a spree of killings, but do their best to piece together the carnage from the handful of survivors who have made it out alive.

The characters are a wide and varied bunch, but, what unites them is that they’re all pretty unlikable.  Yes, there is a little girl who brings a touch of innocence to the film and – rightly so – she even won an award for her performance.  But the rest of them are pretty dark – even the ones who you’re supposed to root for!  Much of the tale is told through the eyes of the survivors, making the film mainly a series of flashbacks which are open to interpretation.

You get a fair amount of (what I’d call) ‘Pulp Fiction-esque’ dialogue which shows us more about the characters, rather than speeds the plot along.  This can either work well, or drag the story along.  I’m glad to say that it does the job here.  Again, like her father, the dialogue is pretty cringe worthy to listen to, largely due to its content and how awkward and uncomfortable it makes the (few innocent) characters feel.

However, unlike David Lynch’s films, this one is a little more straight forward.  His tend to be very open to interpretation, whereas Surveillance has a definitely ‘beginning, middle and end.’ Yes, it can be a little jumbled sometimes, but you shouldn’t have any trouble keeping up, especially if you’re in the mood for something very dark and twisted.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one