Strange Days (1995)

The advent of the 1990s saw a sudden rise in a genre long thought dead, film noir. While technically not noir as all these films were in color and by definition proper noirs are black and white, they still made full use of many tropes of those classic films from the 40s and 50s; crime, twists and turns, double-crosses, femme fatales, and antihero protagonists. Notable examples of this wave of recycling include LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction, and Shallow Grave, but even more interesting than the renewed interest in noir was the melding of noir and horror or Sci-Fi that began popping up in films like Angelheart, Dark City, Lost Highway and the subject of this post, Strange Days.

Made in 1995, the film takes place in the distant future of the last days of 1999 in the City of Angels itself, Los Angeles. Crime is at an all time high and the tension between the citizens of the inner city and the abusive LAPD is on the precipice of a full-on war --presumably commenting on the Rodney King riots just three years before. In this swamp lives Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes: Schindler's List, the Harry Potter films), former vice cop who makes a living acquiring and selling SQUID discs, recordings that allow people to feel and experience other people's memories through their eyes. All seems to be going great until A)a local civil rights leader is found shot execution style and B) a longtime friend of Nero and his ex Faith (played with slinky zeal by Juliette Lewis) is murdered and a disc of the death is delivered right to him. Also along for the ride and trying to uncover the truth is Tom Sizemore as PI Max Peltier and Angela Bassett (giving possibly the single best performance of the film) as single mom/limo driver Lornette 'Mace' Mason

Directed by future Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, after watching I was truly shocked I'd never even heard of this film until I read about it in some random article about underrated Sci-Fi films. Apparently it was a massive flop upon release, earning back only a fraction of its $42mil price tag. I couldn't help but think of David Cronenberg's fairly divisive film output in this time period, work like Crash and Naked Lunch, and notice similarities in the tone and style. In addition, there's a certain low-tech approach to the science fiction aspects that I really find appealing.

Most importantly, the SQUID sequences --shot in POV-- feel real and disturbing, and in a time where you can find an actual, honest-to-blog snuff film on a certain gore site that I won't name here, that's no mean feat. Strange Days is a film the deserves to be rediscovered and praised, so do yourself the favor and find yourself a copy.