Another Lynch Travels a Lost Highway

Few things are as disquieting as a desolate highway.

David Lynch obviously understands this—think of the lights of the lone limo descending down the dark, circuitous decline of Mulholland Drive.

His daughter, Jennifer Lynch, writer-director of the affectingly disturbing “Surveillance,” knows it, too.

The talented Ms. Lynch hasn’t directed a feature film since 1993’s “Boxing Helena,” for which she was unjustly skewered. I’m not saying her debut was a good film, just that critics were far too harsh—probably because of her last name.

Here, in her sophomore effort, the director with the famous dad, shows she can write and direct and disturb—and what daddy does with surrealism, she accomplishes with stark reality.

“Surveillance” opens with a streaky, smeary, slow-motion prologue in which two gruesomely masked killers attack a sleeping couple in their bed. They bludgeon the man, but the woman manages to escape, and they pursue peruse the screaming, frightened figure down a dark road. Sometime later, two FBI agents, Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond) and Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman), arrive at a local police station in the Santa Fe desert to investigate a series of murders—a mass slaughter by two figures dressed in jumpsuits and latex masks on the highway from the day before—presumably connected to the film’s disturbing opening.

The Feds interview three witnesses—crazy, corrupt cop, Jack (co-writer, Kent Harper), tweaked-up junkie, Bobbi (Pell James), and a stoic little eight-year-old girl named Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins)—all of whom recount their version of the roadside rampage while being videotaped, Agent Hallaway watching the monitors.

In a nod to Rashomon, each tells a different story in the form of flashbacks—all but the eight-year-old Stephanie, lying—or at least distorting events to cover up their depravity.

“Surveillance” is shot on video, often through monitors, which fits both its name and the gritty realism of its story.
Eerie and engaging, this neo-norish nightmare is not for the faint of heart, but if you like the dark detours of lost highways you’ll probably appreciate this continually involving film.

In addition to a fine job of writing and directing, Ms. Lynch did a great job of casting—particularly of the three most crucial characters. Julie Ormond and Bill Pullman (both of whom have appeared in David Lynch films) are excellent, and the little Ryan Simpkins is extraordinary.
“Surveillance” is short, but Ms. Lynch manages to make everyone of its 97 minutes impactful, menacing, memorable.

If you’re not afraid of the dark, not easily disturbed (or enjoy being so), and don’t plan to take any road trips in the near future, this non-joyride may be just the journey for you.

Note: Not only did I find the film interesting, but equally so was the way I watched it. This is just the kind of independent, low-budget movie that never makes it to theaters like the ones we have around here, and even though it has just been released, I watched it on TV.

No, I didn’t illegally download it. I watched it On Demand, and I applaud the person who pulled the trigger to let it be released in this way at the same time it was being released to theaters. All movies should be, but until we get there, smaller, independent films that only play in select cities would be wise to always do simultaneous releases—ensuring reviews like this one are not wasted on readers who might not remember it six months from now when the DVD comes out.