ART OF ACTION: Strange Days (15)

Former policeman Lenny Nero 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, to help find the killer, and the two soon stumble upon a vast conspiracy involving the police force Nero once worked for.

The Art of Action:

The First Woman of Hollywood Action

Kathryn Bigelow made history in 2009 when she became the first woman to win a Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker which also won Best Film that year. The gossip papers were eager to watch the ceremony as her biggest competition that night was her ex-husband James Cameron with Avatar. It was an extraordinary moment to reflect on their once-tight collaboration and how both of their cinema styles have evolved since. The years of their relationship and professional collaboration through the 1980s and 90s was at the height of the bombastic, effects-laden action set-pieces era of Hollywood’s second Golden Age, and their mutual fascination with pushing the boundaries of technology, the seductive nature of violence was felt throughout in the films they made in that time. Cameron created (arguably fetishised) tough resilient women on screen – Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor – whereas Bigelow celebrated a more complicated take on masculinity – the pretty faces of Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze most notably in Point Break and Ralph Fiennes in Strange Days - whilst giving us some fascinating women to accompany them – Tyler and Mace respectively. Bigelow claims not to be interested in staking ground in the industry on the basis of gender, but what she creates is just as groundbreaking in more nuanced way than the muscle-bound heroines of Cameron’s films. There is much to consider with gender representation and pioneering style in their films, but above all, these are some of the best times you’ll have watching films in the cinema!