Surveillance

After the critical and commercial failure of Jennifer Lynch's debut film 'Boxing Helena' I could understand a studio's apprehension about promoting her sophomore effort.

Judging by the complete lack of promotion - in the UK at least - it is obvious that few Execs even watched 'Surveillance', because they would have been blind not to see the diamond in their midst.

The film's two FBI-Agent leads are played by Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond, who has flown a little under the radar since her 90s big-screen debut. Having seen her play Elsa in David Hare's 'My Zinc Bed' at the Royal Court Theatre back in 2000, she's not aged a day.

The Agents arrive in a small town to investigate a double murder. There are three witnesses whose versions of the events don't quite match up and the story unfolds from all points of view.

Its unconventional narrative is well shot and tightly edited with scenes of shocking violence and black humour in equal measure. Every role is well played but for me Ormond is an absolute knockout. Surveillance took my breath away and I can't wait to watch it again. I just need to recover for a bit.