Strange Days

Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 film follows a man selling illegal discs that record other people's memories. A recording of a murder reaches him. The recording shows police violence. The film makes the subjective camera a direct narrative instrument; the narrative brings the city to the edge of riot on the last night of the millennium. James Cameron co-wrote the screenplay. Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett lead. It failed at the box office and was reassessed later. Who it's for: those who like dark science fiction. Who it's not for: viewers who cannot take a scene showing sexual violence from the victim's own eyes; that passage is long and extremely disturbing.