Strange Days (film)
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Strange Days is the title of a 1995 science fiction film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and produced and co-written by her ex-husband James Cameron. It stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott, Vincent D'Onofrio and Louise LeCavalier. The film is notable for its dystopian view of the future, and the moral ambivalence of many of its characters, leading some to describe it as a modern example of film noir.
Plot summary
Los Angeles, December, 1999. Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), a former police detective turned street hustler, deals in dreams. Specifically, 'SQUID' recordings of experiences taken directly from the cerebral cortex which, when recorded and played back through a MiniDisc-like device, allow the user to experience all recorded sensory inputs (such as sight, hearing, smell, and touch) as if they were actually experiencing it themselves. A perpetual loser, he lives a lonely and impoverished existence, and still pathetically yearns for his ex-girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis), a popular singer and former prostitute who cruelly rejected Lenny when she achieved success. Lenny lives vicariously through SQUID recordings made during the days when he and Faith were happy together. Relying on support and protection from his friend Lornette "Mace" Mason (Bassett), who is both in love with him and sickened by his obsessive and addictive yearning for the past, Lenny ekes out a living in the underbelly of Los Angeles, trading mainly in pornographic SQUIDs to support himself. The city has become a dystopic urban nightmare, suffering under an unrelenting maelstrom of violence and vice.
In the last few days of the millennium, several dark events threaten to destroy not only Lenny's life, but the entire city of Los Angeles. An influential rap artist critical of the LAPD and civil authorty, Jeriko One (played by Glenn Plummer), is found brutally murdered, threatening to result in an explosion of civil violence that will burn the city to the ground. Around the same time, Lenny receives snuff "black jack" tape portraying—in terrible detail—the brutal rape and murder of Iris, a street prostitute he is acquainted with, and whom had recently tried to contact him before her death. Deeply troubled by both the tape and warnings, Iris had made about Faith's safety (the two having been friends), and convinced that the killer will strike again, Lenny follows the leads to music industry mogul Philo Gant (Michael Wincott), Faith's new boyfriend.
As he receives more snuff tapes, Lenny and Mace eventually discover that the case is tied to both a cover-up of the murder of Jeriko One, and dark rumours of a top-secret "death squad" operating within the LAPD. As they are hunted by Philo's goons and two sinister police officers, Lenny and Mace find themselves in a race to uncover the full truth before the murderer catches up with them, and before civil war descends on the nation.
Trivia
- The film's title comes from the song (and album) of the same name by The Doors. Metal band Prong performs a cover version of the song on the movie soundtrack, accompanied by original Doors member Ray Manzarek.
- The rap singer Jeriko One’s name is a reference to an Israeli missile.
- Juliette Lewis' two songs in the film, both originally written and performed by PJ Harvey, are not lip-synced.
- The extended POV (point of view) shots used in the "wire trip" sequences required Bigelow's team to create entirely new, lightweight 35mm cameras. These were shot by Steadicam operator (and Cameron regular) Jimmy Muro on the custom, lightweight rig first used for the foot chase in Bigelow's 1991 film Point Break.
- The movie helped propel the term Y2K into the public consciousness, albeit as a revolutionary street slang term instead of a computer glitch.
- The band playing in the warehouse party scene is Kansas City based Season to Risk.
- The film's dedication, "To Gertrude", was likely a subtle reference to the blossoming romance between Fiennes and Francesca Annis - the two of them had recently appeared together in a production of Hamlet, with Annis playing the role of Gertrude.
- In the 1999 film The Matrix, the character Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, sells illegal mini-discs like the ones dealt by Lenny, in a reference to the James Cameron movie.
- Max mentions Nero owns a GLOCK 23 during the final hotel room scene.
- To stage the countdown to 2000, four city blocks were closed off near the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. To get the needed ten to twelve thousand extras for the scene, a concert was organized. The "Millennium" event was advertised in print and on local radio stations, and attracted Angelinos from all walks of life. Live music, including performers Aphex Twin, Lady Miss Kier and Doc Martin kept the energy high while the production raffled off trips to Hawaii and other door prizes.
External links
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