DVDs in Review

Surveillance

Title: Surveillance (2008)

Release date: June 29 2009

Certificate: 18

Format: Reviewed on DVD, available on Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £15.99

Rating: 4/5

Other than being the daughter of David Lynch, Jennifer Chambers-Lynch hasn't held much stock as a filmmaker in her own right, especially after the commercial disaster and critical mauling for 'Boxing Helena' in 1993. So after 15 years of silence since that ill-fated debut, is she now a director worth shouting about?

In short, yes. 'Surveillance' is an offbeat thriller that functions with a 'Roshamon' style fragmented narrative - people are dead (victims of heinous violence - the work of serial killers), two kooky FBI agents have been drafted in and are questioning suspects, cops and survivors at the out-of-the-way police station in the middle of the Santa Fe desert.

As the police are revealed to be far from innocent and the witnesses have drug connections, we don't know who to believe. They're all under investigation from the Feds (Bill Pullman and Julia Ormand) who are sapping them of information and twisting their motives around, playing them against each other. The spiralling narratives and claustrophobic setting would make for a compelling stage play.

Then the flashbacks start coming from the various characters, adding a fast, furious and dark tone to the film, giving it its energy. These high contrast exterior scenes are shot with eye-catching scope - it's hard to believe that this is only the director's second feature.

'Surveillance' with its static shots does at times feel like surveillance footage (especially when adopting the FBI's cameras for the interviews). Alternatively in times of suspense Lynch gives it a visual twist that would be best suited to her father's work - dark, cold, experimental, almost psychotic. One is reminded of 'Lost Highway' - another tour de force, analysis of depravity from Bill Pullman but this time directed by David Lynch.

To view 'Surveillance' by its obligatory twisty finale would be missing the point - the examination of truth, the power of intimidation and the questioning of social identities is what propels this from being another violent thriller.  The DVD from E1 Entertainment contains an abstract delete scene (around five minutes) and an alternative ending.