Strange Days

MOVIE #1,278 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 12.13.23 I actually didn’t realize this was a Bigelow movie when I started it somehow. And — as I’ve said a million times before about countless filmmakers — she is someone who I want to do a Director Focus on eventually. Oh well, ya gotta start somewhere. In this case: a vision of the near future, December 30th, 1999 as viewed from the mid-90s. The idea of a movie being set less than a half-decade ahead into the future is pretty funny to me. Envisioning a Los Angeles where the Rodney King riots essentially never stopped is interesting, but the technological leap in escapist entertainment from Sega Genesis to harnessing real peoples’ sometimes violent memories to be replayed on mini-CDRs via proto Meta Quest VR sets (it’s more like a spindly shower cap and you just have to close your eyes) is wild. I have no problem with this stretch in practice — it’s sci-fi, baby — but if you believe that on some level this is an attempt at prognostication, it’s hard not to giggle at the concept.

The L.A. Bigelow creates in this not-so-distant vision (from a script co-written by James Cameron) is a cool one. Everything’s on fire, cops and National Guard are everywhere, people look more or less like they’re stuck in the mid-90s but with an extra layer of grime and filth. And the film is excellently cast, from Ralph Fiennes in the lead to a longhaired Tom Sizemore to an excellent Angela Bassett and, of course, the vastly underrated Michael Wincott playing the villain. It’s a little less than the sum of its parts, however, and for one reason: This movie is simply too long.

I hate harping on this as I rarely think a film's length is the issue when it's clearly well-considered, stylish and has something to say (which this movie is/does) but I simply found myself not caring by the 2-hour mark. Maybe in a different setting or time this wouldn't have been the case and I don't wanna rule that out. I don't even think pacing is the issue. Everything flows nicely. There's just too much of it: too much exposition, too many unnecessary mini-flashbacks, etc. A cut that was about 45 minutes shorter would be perfect. Regardless, I still thought this was very solid and worth checking out.

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Strange Days is a 1995 American science fiction thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow, from a screenplay by James Cameron and Jay Cocks, and based on a story by Cameron. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott, and Vincent D'Onofrio. Set in Los Angeles on the last two days of 1999, the film follows Lenny Nero (Fiennes), a black marketeer of an electronic device that allows a user to experience the recorded memories and physical sensations of other people, and Lornette "Mace" Mason (Bassett), a bodyguard and limousine driver, as they are drawn into a criminal conspiracy involving Nero's ex-girlfriend Faith Justin (Lewis) and the murder of a prostitute. It was released on October 6, 1995 .