Kathryn Bigelow

Set in Los Angeles two days before the end of 1999, Strange Days introduces us to Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), an ex-cop turned sleazy hustler who hawks the newest underground thrill on the black market: a “squid,” a headpiece that allows one to transmit digital recordings of other people’s thoughts, feelings, and memories into their brain; as Lenny describes it, “this is real life, pure and uncut, straight from the cerebral cortex.” Lenny deals “clips” (the software) as well as “squids” (the hardware) for this new and illegal entertainment system, and while sex and violence are the most popular themes, Lenny refuses to deal in “blackjack” — slang for snuff clips. Read More »

synopsis
Set in Los Angeles two days before the end of 1999, Strange Days introduces us to Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), an ex-cop turned sleazy hustler who hawks the newest underground thrill on the black market: a “squid,” a headpiece that allows one to transmit digital recordings of other people’s thoughts, feelings, and memories into their brain; as Lenny describes it, “this is real life, pure and uncut, straight from the cerebral cortex.” Lenny deals “clips” (the software) as well as “squids” (the hardware) for this new and illegal entertainment system, and while sex and violence are the most popular themes, Lenny refuses to deal in “blackjack” — slang for snuff clips. Lenny is nursing a broken heart after his girlfriend, punk singer Faith Justin (Juliette Lewis), left him, and he spends a lot of time with clips he recorded when they were together.Read More »

Quote:
Martin Scorsese describes his initial and growing obsession with films from the 1940s and 50s as the art form developed and grew with clips from classics and cult classics.Read More »

Willem Dafoe’s first credited screen role.
A group of leather-clad bikers en route to some blistering racing action in Daytona, Fla., makes a pit stop in a backwater Georgia town. While waiting for one of their hogs to get fixed, the gang decides to raise hell. But they get more than they bargained for when the townsfolk battle back in this moody homage to “The Wild One.”Read More »