Surveillance

2008
6.3| 1h37m| R| en| More Info
Released: 08 February 2008 Released
Producted By: Blue Rider Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.arclightfilms.com/labels/arclight/new_films/surveillance.php
Info

An FBI agent tracks a serial killer with the help of three of his would-be victims - all of whom have wildly different stories to tell.

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Director

Jennifer Lynch

Production Companies

Blue Rider Pictures

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Surveillance Audience Reviews

Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Saiph90 We have two FBI agents attending small town America where a family has been slaughtered. The local police are to put it mildly dysfunctional, shooting out the wheels of passing cars out of boredom and then hassling the poor occupants. The twist is pretty obvious but does not take away from the film. The leads are excellent Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman, the rest of the cast contribute to a taught, claustrophobic movie. The violence is graphic but not over the top. The budget was $3,500,000 compare this to the absolutely abysmal Unfinished Business which had a budget of $35,000,000 which shows good movies can be made if not exactly on the cheap but a realistic amount for a modern film.
bored donquixote i really liked the movie and got by surprise by the twist toward the end.With a calculated direction and storytelling the deciphering of the film starts immediately from the title.So Surveillance,everything begin with the unquestioning authority and that same trait is what brings the unfortunate demise of many characters in the film.We see it with the authority of the FBI agents in the present time line,we see it with the authority of the police officers in the past towards the drivers.Surveillance inherently holds a benevolent and lawful intention for the one who accomplishes it but that is not the case here.There is almost a divine tone in the surveillance when it is done.FBI agent speaking unseen through the microphone,the same when the police officers tell drivers to return to their cars.In both cases they also display a quality of the voice of conscience to their subjects.The trial ends when the subjects adjust accordingly.But that is not the key to their survival.The only survivor is the little girl who,as Pullman said,figured them out!And he implies that is a condition to not be killed.Also in the case of the officers when the little girl,unfazed from their previous despicable actions,speaks with them,they seem to briefly return to how a real cop should act! There is also an amoral showcase from many characters and i could say that that includes the little girl.Children in arts usually represent the purity of the soul and thus a direct reflection of their environment.If you recall ,many characters in a humorous way try to either save their asses or satisfy their needs when in a critical situation.The little girl(whose parents ,lets not forget,do not allow her to watch horror movies and the news broadcast and she knows well how blood looks like ) has oddly an unfazed attitude towards the death of her family or as Pullman says''kids are more resilient'' Indeed the way she used her knowledge of the facts and of the reality of the Surveillance is a mirror of the ways of the adults in the film.Interestingly and disturbingly her attitude was not an evaluation rather than an instinct to abandon the ignorant around her.Her surveillance,coming from her family,coming from the world ,produced that.Also lets not forget that the female FBI agent when seeing her remembers herself being a sad little girl and Pullmans remarks about it that she can not save her.For that last one to be honest i am not sure if i am right but hooray to me for at least the effort!!!a surrealistic prism to nihilism,i recommend this film to everyone!come aboard mates!!!
bowmanblue 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.
pantelei7 This is my first review on IMDb that I just had to write as this movie as this was so much outside of my expectations... I cannot decide whether to put this movie in a genre of horror or some sci-fi crime where nearly all the characters belong to some strange other planet, because if I imagine all this happening on planet Earth, it is a really sad picture. First I thought it'll be some thrilling FBI movie and great for relaxation after a long working day. Well, I was quite wrong. This is a kind of movie after which you might not sleep well couple of nights or couple of weeks depending on how strong your psyche is. If I only look at the movie as a work of art, I could say it's a good movie, well shot, great director's work, good play by most of the actors, but from a certain point of view it's not much different from Alien, the 8th Passenger: when I first watched it many years ago, I found it extremely disturbing. Now I could watch it without the same level of stress, probably because I've watched so many similar movies over the years. After watching this movie my first thought was that it's shame that these great actors gave their name and worked for such a horrifying movie. I think the problem with it is that it is unrealistic to have all these characters and all the events happening in one movie...sort of over-realistic, over-saturated horror movie that might well work for creating more serial killers if that was the aim of the director. I cannot say I enjoyed the movie. I wish I could stop watching it at any point. I'd rather watch any Alien movie again, because I know that that's just a Sci-Fi, not real. This is a kind of movie after which you start thinking of putting more locks on the main door, lock your car whilst driving and look around with suspicion in anywhere outside of your home, even if you live in a safe area (e.g. me in England). Hopefully this move has nothing to do with the realities of American life these days ...