Strange Days - 1995 (Kathryn Bigelow)

Back in Autumn 1995 the OJ Simpson trial was about to conclude in Los Angeles and it was feared that a guilty verdict would lead to a riot on the scale that started in 1992 when the police officers accused of beating Rodney King were found not guilty.

In the same week that the verdict was announced Strange Days directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Near Dark) and co-written by James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic) was released and was seen as a massive flop making just 7 million in the US from a 42 million budget. The failure was blamed on the fact that the film was released at the wrong time and deals with race relations in Los Angeles and the potential for explosive violence that exists in a city with a melting-pot of races and cultures.

It’s a few days before the end of the millennium in 1999 and ex-cop Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is a dealer of clips made using a S.Q.U.I.D device which records memories and emotions of the wearer. The device was originally developed by the police as a surveillance tool to replace the traditional wire and has now gone underground. Users are able to relive experiences of the wearer and feel their emotions and the adrenaline rush they may feel when having a threesome or robbing a bank. Continued use however leads to brain damage and Lenny is becoming strung out due to continued viewing of clips with his old girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis). Faith is an aspiring rock-singer who has left Lenny for record producer Philo Gant (Michael Wincott) whose most successful artist; Jericho One (Glenn Plummer) an outspoken rapper has just been gunned down. Lenny’s miserable existence is only relieved somewhat by his friends, bodyguard Mace (Angela Bassett) and Max (Tom Sizemore).    

Then one night Lenny’s prostitute friend Iris (Bridget Bako) approaches Lenny in a terrified state telling him she knows something and people are after her. She gives him a clip recording and shortly afterwards he is sent another clip recorded by a masked man showing Iris brutal rape and murder. Lenny views the clip given to him by Iris which shows the racist killing of Jericho One by two police officers (William Fichtner and Vincent D’Onofrio) which has been covered up and portrayed as just another gangland killing. The two cops then target Lenny as if the clip gets into the open, the tension will erupt and turn New Years Eve into a blood bath.

This underseen classic is a great piece of cyberpunk noir and was hailed as a masterpiece by those who saw it when released. The subject matter however proved too controversial for the time and some of the violence is particularly brutal especially the Snuff Rape clip which is pretty harsh for a film released by a major studio even by today’s standards.

The film sets the scene perfectly in the beginning with Lenny driving around a city which is so steeped in violence that you even see two women mugging a Santa Claus. The character development is spot on. Ralph Fiennes for once playing a likeable loser to perfection instead of an upper class villain and Tom Sizemore and Michael Wincott making the most of their roles. The film takes its time getting where it’s going before going full pelt into thriller mode. This is no bad thing as we get to see the L.A they inhabit and get to care about the main players who all seem to believe that the world will end at the stroke of midnight 1999. The climax of the movie with a huge rave in Downtown L.A is incredible and amazingly real due to the fact that an actual rave was held and filmed to give the desired effect.

The camera work by Matthew Leonetti is fantastic in this movie, especially the clips which are all seen from the POV of the Squid wearer, opening with a liquor store hold up where the wearer, and we the viewer fall to our doom trying to outrun the cops. The soundtrack is also great creating a cyber-noir mood, featuring prominent music by ambient artists Deep Forest as well as music by Skunk Anansie and Juliette Lewis herself. Unfortunately director Kathryn Bigelow never topped this film when it should have given her greater recognition and went on to make average thrillers like K-19 The Widowmaker.

A problem with science fiction movies set in the near future is that by setting them in a specific year, you run the risk of dating them very quickly. Technology and events that may not be available or may be far fetched when the year that the film is set arrives can often take you out of the film. Robocop (1987) is supposedly set in 1993 and Blade Runner (1982) is set in 2019 where corporations rule the earth, including Atari and Pan-Am, which have since gone under. Despite this Strange Days holds up well. We all know the world didn’t end in 1999 but back in 1995 the whispers of a world-ending millennium bug were already starting. It will make no difference in your enjoyment of this masterpiece though which should be rightly re-appraised and put alongside The Matrix and Blade Runner as a true cyberpunk classic.

With thanks to Chris Holt for the review - www.myspace.com/holtmeister28