Strange Days, indeed…
Let me preface this post by saying Cronenberg did it better.
Let me add to my previous statement that The Hurt Locker was an incredible film. Completely Oscar worthy and Bigelow’s best film to date.
There were some themes that were fairly intact. Most notably the technology gone wrong thing. Its a pretty good metaphor about how technology (that means YOU internet) is a drug and is very addictive and in some extreme cases can result in an overdose. However in Strange Days, the “squid” technology is illegal for being so completely immersive that one can become addicted to other peoples memories.
Ironically, Bigelow’s ex husband is pimping extremely immersive 3D technology that in some cases is causing people to kill themselves…
Anyways…
Bigelow’s take on violence is refreshing, coming from a female director. The memor-ized rape scene is an interesting concept and very brutal indeed. Its a disturbin concept that you would plug a disc, probably from one of your regular dealers, into your player and are all of the sudden nearly-captive and forced to watch a horrible attrocity. Not to mention what happened to the girl in the film etc etc. This scene is not what is remarkable about Bigelow’s directing. THIS scene I found to be one of the most interesting, if not disgusting and revolting (indicating that the direction was decent for at least this brief part of the film). Its all the rest of the violence that is interesting. In the way that I see it it can be one of two things. Either Kathryn Bigelow is trying to compete against the guys, or she is “one of the guys” (meaning that she shares a similar mentality and possibly a sense of humor about violence). If she is competing with the guys it means that she is trying to make a name for herself in a male-dominated directorial landscape. If she is one of the guys… well then she likes violence! Ive been around tons of women that laugh uproariously at violent scenes in action movies if not for their comedic value alone.
For an abrupt and brief change of pace, I hated this particular view of the future. Im fine with people in the sixties and seventies predicting that in 2001 we will be in other solar systems and immersed in technology that we can only dream of, but FIVE YEARS? Plus im just not a big fan of the Nineties pop culture to begin with and i cant stand the damn world-hybrid music that invaded for that brief time period.
A movie is only as good as its weakest element, right? You guys can contest me on that all you want but aside from certain scenes in certain movies (the fight scene in They Live, for instance) if one element is lacking, the entire production is. I thought I knew that ralph fiennes was a good actor… under the right direction i guess. And why the hell was Juliette Lewis such a hot commodity back then? and finally DIALOGUE. nuff said.
All that being said i think that some of the visual puns were nice. The stabbing in the back and the severing of the ties especially. Cant recall much more.
If you want me to describe the effect the fim had on me in one sentence, then ask me in person or on facebook or shoot me an email.
Tommy Bell
