What if I told you there’s a film written by James Cameron, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, that critics praised but audiences ignored-leaving it to vanish into the shadows of cinema history? That film is Strange Days.
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Released in 1995, Strange Days plunges us into a volatile Los Angeles on the precipice of the new millennium – a ‘near future’ 1999 crackling with social unrest and technological anxiety.
At its core is Lenny Nero, played with a desperate energy by Ralph Fiennes. Nero is a charismatic but morally adrift black market dealer in ‘SQUID’ recordings – illegal, immersive slices of other people’s lives, experienced directly through the cerebral cortex. When one such recording captures a brutal crime someone powerful wants buried, the intricate machinery of a classic noir thriller clicks into gear, but with unexpected and subversive deviations.
Why should you invest your time in this commercially overlooked venture? Beyond the inherent thrill of its action sequences and the labyrinthine mystery, Strange Days offers a strikingly unique science fiction premise, explored with considerable thematic depth. Bigelow’s direction is characteristically muscular and kinetic, complemented by innovative, almost disturbingly intimate, point-of-view cinematography that places you directly within the recorded experiences.
And the performances? Fiennes is a wonderful, as is Angela Bassett, as the formidable bodyguard Mace, delivering a powerhouse portrayal that anchors the film with unwavering conviction.
What elevates Strange Days its intelligent deconstruction of noir conventions. While it knowingly flirts with these tropes, it refuses to be bound by them. Fiennes’ Lenny Nero, intriguingly, embodies characteristics less typical of a hard-boiled protagonist and comes across as a gender-inverted, femme fatale. He’s defined by a seductive pull – not just over others, but critically, over himself through his obsessive reliving of recorded memories. His profound emotional vulnerability and pronounced self-destructive tendencies are hallmarks often attributed to the classic femme fatale, entangled as both architect and victim of her own devastating schemes.
This fascinating inversion clears the stage for Bassett’s Mace to transcend the archetypal sidekick or token love interest role. She emerges as a figure of undeniable strength, competence, and unwavering integrity – a Black woman who serves as the film’s moral compass and action hero. This deliberate re-centering of agency, is a potent and conscious critique of established genre norms and patriarchal storytelling.
Similarly Lenny’s journey diverges from noir’s formulaic fatalism. His redemption-spurred by Mace’s influence-shifts the focus from self-destruction to collective accountability.
So, why did this ambitious, critically lauded project falter so spectacularly with audiences in the mid-90s? Bigelow crafted this film in the long, uneasy shadow of the Rodney King case and the subsequent Los Angeles riots. It’s plausible that, a few years on, a lot of white folks were just not interested in engaging with uncomfortable societal truths and simmering racial tensions, preferring narratives that offered escapism rather than challenging reflection.
And, ultimately, the film’s depth, complexity and courageous subversion of audience expectations may have been too intellectually demanding for mainstream tastes at the time. Yet, these are precisely the qualities that commend Strange Days to contemporary film fans.
You can experience this overlooked gem on the Criterion Channel. Have you encountered Strange Days? What aspects resonated with you, or perhaps, what elements do you believe contributed to its initial commercial struggle? Share your thoughts in the comments; I’m looking forward to your perspectives.
Optimistic Indie Roleplaying 