Kathryn Bigelow has dabbled in almost every cinematic genre & sub-genre there is. She's been considered a cult movie director at one point in her career only to transform in to one of the most critically acclaimed/mainstream award-winning filmmakers working today. The transition from her on-going association with her ex-husband James Cameron to etching out her own place in film is pretty remarkable and cinematic in itself (she would go on to beat Cameron out for best director in 2009).
Like a few other directors we've explored in this series (Andrea Arnold, Xavier Dolan, etc), Kathryn Bigelow isn't a personal favorite of mine but her work is so unique (and sometimes overlooked) that it deserves a PINNLAND EMPIRE-style retrospective. There are plenty of over-thought pieces/essays/reviews on Point Break concerning gender & sexuality (we get it - Keanu & Swayze had some homoerotic tension. Say something new please). But beyond Point Break, Hurt Locker & Zero Dark Thirty, you'd be hard-pressed to find folks who have the same appreciation for The Loveless, Near Dark, Strange Days or her more head-scratching directing choices like K-19 The Widowmaker or The Weight Of Water (say what you want about those last two films but as you scroll through this piece you'll see those films tie in with all the other films in Bigelow's cinematic universe no matter how forgotten/ignored they are).
I'm willing to bet that at some point while reading this piece a good chunk of you are bound to go; "oh yeah- She did direct that."
Enjoy...
COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIPS
AN APPRECIATION FOR SHORT HAIRED WOMEN
I'm sorry but even when you put my own super-strong personal preference for short-haired women aside, I don't think it can be denied that when short hair is worn/styled correctly it trumps any & all feminine hairstyles (sorry if I've offended anyone that this doesn't apply to or is offended by my use of the word feminine). There's a reason why everyone from Louise Brooks to Amber Rose & Halle Berri have been considered to be some of the sexiest women ever. Even Scarlett Johansson often keeps her hair on the short side.
Any time men claim to find short hair unattractive on women they're either lying (they're scared to admit something other than long hair is sexy because long hair is the standard quality associated with female beauty in their minds), or they just haven't been exposed to the right short haircut. Kathryn Bigelow knows this because most of the leading ladies and romantic interests in the first half of her career have all had short hair. What's one of the most memorable characteristics we will all remember about Lori Petty in
Point Break? Short hair. Why is Mae slightly more exotic-looking in
Near Dark? Her short haircut.
When hair is short it covers the face less (something men want to see) and doesn't drape over/cover the sexy parts of the upper body (shoulders, breasts & nipples).
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| The Loveless |
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| Strange Days |
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| Near Dark |
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| Blue Steel |
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| Point Break |
Seriously tho - what made Jamie Lee Curtis stand out from all the other long-haired mostly blonde leading ladies of the 80's & 90's? Her short hair. Sure she was slightly goofy and had a talent for comedy (something a lot of her peers didn't have), but it was her short hair in the era of Daryl Hannah & Daryl Hannah knock-offs that made Curtis stand out from the pack...
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| Blue Steel-era Jamie Lee Curtis |
but I don't want to sum up the women in Kathryn Bigelow's films to just short-haired sexual objects...
TOUGH (YET VULNERBLE) FEMALE CHARACTERS
Her films feature quite a few tough (sometimes long haired) female characters like Angela Bassett in Strange Days or Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty. Even some of the aforementioned short haired women are just as tough as they are cute and/or sexy (Lori Petty in Point Break & Telena in The Loveless)
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| Point Break |
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| Strange Days |
SENSUALITY/SEXUAL TENSION/EROTICISM
SURROGATE FAMILIES
(POSSIBLE) INFLUENCES ON BIGELOW...
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| Point Break |
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| Strange Dyas |
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| Strange Days |
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| Blue Steel |
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| Point Break |
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| The Loveless/Scorpio Rising |
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| Near Dark/Kagemusha |
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| Blue Steel/Taxi Driver |
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| Strange Days/Blade Runner |
BIGELOW'S (POSSIBLE) INFLUENCE ON OTHERS
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| The Loveless/Cry Baby |
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| Near Dark/Mulholland Drive (it should be noted that Monty Montgomery - the actor who plays "The Cowboy" - co-directed The Loveless with Bigelow) |
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| Near Dark/Lost Highway |
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| Point Break/Mad Max: Fury Road |
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| Point Break/Mister Lonely |
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| Point Break/Star Trek |
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| Zero Dark Thirty/Sicario |
RECURRING SHOTS
IDENTITY/SELF REFLECTION
"THIS IS A (WO)MAN'S WORLD"
It is my belief that the casual/non-director oriented movie fan would make the (unfortunate) assumption that a male director is responsible for half of the movies in Bigelow's filmography. Science-fiction, Horror, Action & Military-themed movies are mostly associated with men because those worlds are usually "boys clubs" (in front of and behind the camera). I remember feeling stupid in my very early teens for assuming that a man was responsible for Point Break & Near Dark (I wasn't the director-oriented guy that I am now in my 30's and I just assumed movies with car chases, shootouts & action sequences belonged to men. I never payed too much attention to credits and never took the time to read the credits on the back of the VHS boxes).
When you take a tally, more than half of her movies are action adventure (Point Break), violent (Blue Steel), military-based (K-19, Hurt Locker & Zero Dark Thirty) or sci-fi and/or horror (Strange Days & Near Dark).
There's also a lot of central male characters and a decent amount of bro/male-centric relationships in her films (Point Break, K-19 The Widowmaker, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty)
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| The Loveless |
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| Blue Steel |
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| Detroit |
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| The Hurt Locker |
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| Zero Dark Thirty |
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| Point Break |
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| K-19 The Widowmaker |
VIOLENCE & ACTION SEQUENCES
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| Point Break |
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| Blue Steel |
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| Strange Days |
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| Near Dark |
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| Detroit |
GENRE HOPPING
Not to repeat what I already said at the start of this piece but Kathryn Bigelow's work cant be categorized or summed up in to one or two genres. As we've seen throughout this piece, she's dabbled in almost every genre & sub-genre there is (psychological thriller, action-adventure, drama, cop drama, noir, neo-noir, science fiction, army/military-based, arthouse, horror, etc).
I usually like when filmmakers stay in their designated lanes but we need filmmakers like Bigelow to try new things from time to time.
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| Blue Steel (Noir) |
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| Zero Dark Thirty (Military/War Drama) |
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| Point Break (Action-Adventure) |
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| The Weight Of Water (Thriller) |
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| Near Dark (Horror/Western) |
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| Strange Days (Science-Fiction) |
