Of all the places an "old European" would like to visit in such a vast and varied country as the United States, Los Angeles must be close to the bottom of my list. The notion of a big urban sprawl where an automobile is held to be almost indispensable appals me and the proximity to the world's dominant industrial dream factory gives me the shivers.
Yet such a city, seen as backdrop -- and occasionally subject matter -- of countless feature films and documentaries and as recounted by American friends, exercises a magnetic fascination and sometimes future-minded appeal.
Barely three years after the Los Angeles race riots (Wikipedia) set parts of the town ablaze and claimed at least 50 lives, it became the place where Kathryn Bigelow and her movie team got 20,000 people to the Millennium rave party that became the setting for the last part of an astonishing and provocative film.
In 1995, 'Strange Days' (Amazon UK) was a box office disaster in the States and pulled in a mere 160,000 people when it was released here in France.
This much "underrated" movie is, however, being rehabilitated in well-deserved terms by some users at the iMDB.
In a racially explosive city where the police use armoured cars and tanks as well as riot gear, sacked LA cop Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) has turned seedy, persuasive dealer in "virtual reality" wire tapes, or clips which are no games. These clips are recordings taken from the cerebral cortex, enabling the voyeur customer to get inside the head of somebody else and share their experience, emotions and memories.
Sex is, of course, a hot commodity. At the nastiest, foulest end of the market -- a place where Nero refuses to go on account of the few ethical values he has left -- "snuff" recordings are hotter still.
Some wire tape clients get a hell of a kick out of the direct experience of violent death, taken from the head of murderer or victim, and, most appallingly, in the case of the well-connected killer who proves extremely dangerous to Nero and his friends, both.
'Strange Days,' dark, racy and brutal from the opening sequence (which is one of these "snuff" recordings), becomes a "trust nobody" movie from the moment Nero gets hold of a clip in which two police officers cold-bloodedly execute one of America's top black radical militants.
This is December 30-31, 1999, but could it just be a not too distant tomorrow?
A Los Angeles almost torn apart by casual crime and greed is gearing up for the biggest New Year's Eve party it has ever seen. Nero, with a clip which could trigger an all-out street war, is also landed with the rape and murder of a prostitute to investigate, and an ex-girlfriend turned star nightclub singer (Juliette Lewis) who is probably going to get killed.
But Faith is no longer in love with him and really not interested in his crazy rescue efforts, since her career and her sex life are now a matter for ruthless music producer Philo Gant (Michael Wincott).
In all this bloody mess, Nero reckons there are just two people he might be able to count on, his old buddy Max (Tom Sizemore) and wealthy men's chauffeur, bodyguard and martial arts expert "Mace" (Angela Bassett).
There you have a few elements of a twisted and demanding plot from no less a movie writer and maker than James Cameron (iMDB), who for a few years shared his life with gifted painter turned hard-assed film director Bigelow.
What these two achieved in 'Strange Days' (Cameron didn't want credit for his considerable hand in making the film, including developing the light prototype camera needed for the seamless wire-tape scenes) is, at nearly two and a half hours, apparently too long and convoluted for some.
But others speak of it in the same breath as Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece, 'Blade Runner.'
The acting runs from good to first-rate. Bassett and Fiennes turn in two of the best performances of their careers. "Mace" hangs on to her morals and proves as sensitive as she is a kick-ass bodyguard. Nero is another complicated character, a likeable, quick-witted, untrustworthy and screwed-up scumbag who has to face up to the harsh truth that he is one of his own worst enemies.
The plot is tense, socially interesting and emotive. To the several people, again at the iMDB, who don't seem able to articulate their reasons for hating this film and calling it "crap", I imagine it seems subversive and anti-American -- the latter it isn't -- particularly in today's political climate. The film takes on high racial tensions, crime, voyeur consumerism, corruption and unrequited love.
The music is loud, contemporary and will be adored by the Kid. Peter Gabriel's in there, along with Marilyn Manson, P.J. Harvey and Deep Forest. It's an eclectic soundtrack, from a bit of New Age to heavy rap and chunks of metal.
The visuals -- camerawork, artwork and atmosphere -- are so relentlessly good that I think some critics have concentrated too much on the technology of the medium rather than the film's several messages, which got enough of my neurons firing to make me want to watch 'Strange Days' again soon.
Coming just a night after I belatedly discovered 'eXistenZ' and that movie's very different take on "giving the 'virtual reality' punters what they want", 'Strange Days' proved a solid, exciting meal after an excellent entrée for the senses. Now, what on earth -- or off it for a change -- am I going to have for dessert?
1:14:33 PM link 
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