Are you being watched? You might start to wonder after seeing this dynamic and tense political thriller. Set in contemporary London, the fast-paced action follows Adam, a young urban professional who has a one-night stand with the wrong guy. Within hours of saying goodbye to the handsome stranger he met in a bar and took to bed, Adam finds himself in the middle of a scandal that leads all the way to the British royal family. Soon Adam is on the run and looking for help in a world full of shifty characters with uncertain motivations — and they all seem to be watching him, all of the time.

With the help of his father and an old flame, Adam takes matters into his own hands as he attempts to uncover a complex mystery that has a whole nation tuned in. Director Paul Oremland uses a collage of visual styles to create an edge-of-your seat atmosphere. Handheld camerawork merges with surveillance footage to provide clear close-ups and hazy long shots of Adam and his adventures above and below the streets of London. Exciting and energetic from the first frame, Surveillance is more than a rocking good time at the movies. Oremland’s sublime fusion of style and content skewers the sensationalism and influence of today’s media culture to craft a paranoid tale that is both exhilarating and terrifying at once. — BRENDAN PETERSON