If David Lynch and David Cronenberg got together to remake Alfred Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW (1954), the result would be this film. Directed and co-written by Australian filmmaker Joseph Sims-Dennett,  OBSERVANCE is a very well executed example of visual storytelling.  There is dialogue in the film but not a lot and most of it is of little importance. The images tell us what we need to know.  Although how much we are able to trust all that we see is part of what makes this film so intriguing.

Back on the Job

Lindsay Farris, who starred in Sims-Dennett’s previous film BAD BEHAVIOUR (2010), plays a private investigator by the name of Parker. Struggling to come to grips with the recent tragic death of his young son, Parker has decided to get back to work. He has taken a high paying job to sit in a decrepit apartment and observe the woman across the street. His employer gives him very little information on his subject and the reasons why he is watching her. He is instructed just to watch and report what he sees.

For the most part very little seems to be going on across the way outside of what appears to be an argument that turns physical between the woman and her fiancé. Concerned for her safety, Parker investigates the fiancé and discovers a dark family past.  His already fragile mind begins to piece together a paranoid scenario that takes over the film. Dreams and hallucinations blur together with reality making us the audience, as well as Parker, question which is which. 

Internal Struggle

Farris does a masterful job of portraying this man descending into madness while trying not to drown in it. His performance is an internal one. Through several close-ups of his face you can see his mind racing to try and make sense of everything that is happening. You feel for him as well as fear for him. He is obviously destroyed by the death of his son. Possibly more by the likelihood that he may have been directly responsible for the tragedy.  

Reality or not?

As good as Farris is, however, the real stars of OBSERVANCE are the editing and, as I mentioned before, the visuals.  Right from the opening shots I was hooked in. The film knows exactly how long to linger on a given shot and the pacing of the film is right on.  Visually, the film starts with what appear to be clear distinctions in style for what is a dream, what is a hallucination and what is reality. It’s not long, however, before the film begins to get loose with these styles. It starts to offers us few clues as to what is really a dream vs a hallucination vs actual reality.

This leads us to question what is really happening.  Even when we see a scene between the subject and her fiancé that Parker is not present for, we have to ask if this scene and dialogue is real or are we seeing what Parker believes to be happening.  Concrete answers are not to be found in a film like this nor should they.   OBSERVANCE is not a film about the mystery of why this woman is being watched. It is a film about the fragility and power of the human mind to reshape reality.

Observance is now available on premium VOD outlets including:

• VIMEO
• iTunes
• Amazon Video
• VUDU
• Google/YouTube
• XBox/MicrosoftMovies