The moment is another in the chain of “she really does love the loser, if only he’d notice” subplot. Given everything they’ve been through, it’s her showing more trust and more vulnerability to him than she does at any other point. But it’s also him revealing the deep respect he has for her.

Film School Digression, bear with me, I hope this has a point: In film, looking is power. Those who watch have power, those who are watched do not. Thus, we the audience have power over everyone. Onscreen, men tend to have more “power” than women, as women are fetishized far more often than men. Think of it this way, notice how pretty much only men are shown doing “playback”? Women make recordings, but are rarely seen watching clips themselves. In fact, other than the Mace scene under discussion, the only other times women are shown watching “playback” are when Max forces Iris and Faith to watch themselves getting fucked. And both times the women’s own “power” is removed by blindfold and they are forced to see what the man is seeing (how he is seeing them). Lenny’s insistence comes from his desire to share that power/knowledge with Mace, placing them on equal footing. This is reinforced when Lenny later confronts Faith and she says she’ll tell the truth to Lenny alone, and without hesitating Lenny insists that Mace is in this too. It’s an exchange: she submits to his wish that she use the technology and in return she gets the power of “seeing”.

Random thought: I dug the moment when Lenny gives the guy in the wheelchair a clip of someone jogging, a poignant example that playback is good for more than sex and violence. Actually, when I first heard that AVATAR was about a crippled man “virtually” experiencing walking again, that scene was the first thing to pop in my head.

So that ending shot of black woman and white guy together, you know a new future, a new America. Can’t we all just get along and groove to love? Not exactly subtle, but it ties exactly into your point about the reset.

And unfortunately, maybe that ties in with the ending with the L.A. Police Commissioner. Real Hollywood like that other shot? Why yes. But hey, new decade and maybe a Commish that isn’t Gates II.

Then again, its the same sort of sentimentality Cameron had toyed with earlier. Outside of TRUE LIES of course (which was more as his somewhat attempt at combining the big action blockbuster with the romantic comedy)

Seriously, Cameron is really the love child of Spielberg’s fucking corny sentimentality, and John Milius’ love for guns and ammunition.

it’s funny, that’s the moment where the movie kind of frustrated me. it’s good screenwriting to throw a detail like that in there, but i remember thinking when i saw the film how that scene was bullshit overall. let me explain:

Mace’s character’s whole thing in the movie is that she’s the one person who has never used SQUID tech and never will. The moment where she has to use it should be huge both for her (obviously) but also for the audience, because ideally that would be the point where we would be forced to acknowledge that there is a positive or at least beneficial use of a SQUID. I even remember Fiennes saying, “You’ve got to see this for yourself to believe it.”

Had I written the movie, after Mace took off the squid she would have furiously said to Fiennes, “THAT’s what I had to see to believe? THAT’S what you’re gonna make me wear this fucking thing for? Repeat after me: ‘Hey Mace, two cops killed Jericho One.’ Is that so fucking hard to say? Yeah, we need this video as evidence–SOMEBODY’S gotta watch it– but that somebody’s not ME, Lenny! You know me better than that! You know i have issues with this kind of shit! You gonna make me throw all that out the window so I can watch two cops kill this poor talentless motherfucker? That’s it. We’re through. Whatever’s going on here between you and me: it’s over. Well, fuck it– I’ll help you turn this tape in, but after that, we’re done, you sick piece of shit.”

Woulda rung a little more true, in my opinion.

Yet, I didn’t feel as cheated by the “happy ending” of STRANGE DAYS. The New Year’s theme helps. Isn’t that how we all view New Year’s, as the chance to reset? Plus, I think the optimism is tempered the right amount. The last shot of the film pans up to the sky, and the clock is put on the screen for the last time, still ticking forward. Nothing’s really changed, this joyful moment isn’t frozen in time forever. But maybe we can get it right this millennium. Maybe.

STRANGE DAYS will always have a special place in my heart as the first real hard-R film I saw in a theater without the parents. I remember only 3 other people were in the theater, two of which were my brother and my best friend. It was this epic, harsh, dirty movie with tits, guns, deaths shown from the first-person, race riots, rape, evil cops and Santa getting beat up. And then as I grew older, it was a little depressing that my more sophisticated film-geek brain couldn’t help but observe how trite the third act is with the miraculous quelling of the riot (Ebert’s great remark in his review: “as if you can turn off anarchy like water from a tap”) and Max’s Bond-villain speech right at the moment when he could have realized his goals with a single gunshot.

However, I still think STRANGE DAYS has one of the greatest first acts ever. Up until Lenny first watches the clip of Iris’s murder, it’s all about soaking in the world and these characters and the details of the technology central to the plot and it all feels organic. There are a few hints in the background of the larger story, but it’s mostly vignettes of Lenny at work: how he gets the clips, how he sells them, his philosophy, his friends, his lost love. I loved how there wasn’t really a plot structure at work in these scenes, other than a day in the life of a fast-talking sleaze with some ethics. The characters and the world are so rich, it does a lot to distract from how conventional the plot ends up becoming.

One more detail I must note is one of my favorite bits of screenwriting ever. Right before Mace is about to watch the clip of Jeriko’s murder, Lenny instructs her, “Close your eyes or you’ll see double”. I feel like applauding every time I see that. This late in the movie and we’re still learning things! You watch the film again and you see that, yes, everyone using the wire has their eyes closed and you think to yourself, “Of course!” It’s a great line because it teaches us something we might not have explicitly noted in our minds yet (it was never mentioned in dialogue before this), and yet it doesn’t feel clunky because it comes from Lenny trying to comfort Mace during her first experience with this technology. A perfect fusion of exposition and character.

Also – any fans of Y: The Last Man on here? There’s definitely shades of the Mace/Lenny relationship in that one. It’s a must-read.