Surveillance

Surveillance is an appropriate title for a film that is essentially about "point-of-view." As the word "surveillance" suggests, there is a scene to be observed, from which details and information can be extracted. Two Federal agents, played by Bill Pullman and Julia Ormand (pictured above) are charged with reconstructing the events surrounding a grisly crime. The narrative borrows from the storytelling device employed by Kurosawa Akira in Rashomon whereby the perspectives of characters regarding a single event begin to reveal subtle truths about the situation.

Naturally, the reaction might be to think you've seen this before, but one has to bear in mind that the director of Surveillance is Jennifer Lynch. As such, one has to expect something different and in fact, viewing the trailer reveals an ability to steer interesting and compelling characters on a collision course that superficially seems almost genetic. One other point to bear in mind is where Rashomon was primarily concerned about revealing truth from the perspectives of its protagonists, Surveillance seems to be about the lies itself, particularly what purpose obfuscating the truth serves and the impact this ultimately has for those who perpetuate them.

Stack some gruesome imagery as only a Lynch can depict on to this thematic foundation, and the final product looks to be a competent and taught thriller. View the Standard Def and High Def trailers here at Apple.