WATCH PARTY: Strange Days (1995) Kathryn Bigelow @ Mary Pretlow Library

I’ve never seen this movie, but just read an article about it the other day. From the director of Zero dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker.

We will be in the big room, Meeting Room 1.

RUNTIME: 145 minutes

SYNOPSIS: Former policeman Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) has moved into a more lucrative trade: the illegal sale of virtual reality-like recordings that allow users to experience the emotions and past experiences of others. While the bootlegs typically contain tawdry incidents, Nero is shocked when he receives one showing a murder. He enlists a friend, bodyguard Mace (Angela Bassett), to help find the killer -- and the two soon stumble upon a vast conspiracy involving the police force Nero once worked for.

BLURBS:
"Strange Days is not a simple film, but a profound sensory experience, where the filmmaker is the prophet of a reality just around the corner." - Juan M. Mendez, New York Daily News

"This is the first movie about virtual reality to deal in a challenging way with the implications of the technology. It’s fascinating the way Bigelow is able to suggest so much of VR’s impact (and dangers) within a movie – a form of VR that’s a century old." - Roger Ebert

"Strange Days is a careening, high-decibel vision of the near future that combines science fiction, murder mystery and social commentary. It is not entirely successful, but it's a worthy effort." - Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Inquirer