I got a chance to see Repo! at the Austin showing last night. I'd been keeping up with the forum, like most of ya'll have, and listening to the soundtrack on a loop. I thought I pretty much knew the whole plot before I'd seen the movie, and had a good idea of how it would end.
I was wrong.
For those of you who haven't been following the Repo! phenomenon, Repo! is an audacious rock opera (completely sung, with some occasional atonal, rhythmic dialogue) that takes place in a Gothic not-too-distant future. An epidemic of organ failures has broken out, but luckily, GeneCo, a massive genetics company, has a solution- They start harvesting organs and offering them to consumers with easy financing options. However, these organs are subject to default, and if you start missing your payments, GeneCo sends out the Repo Man to take back GeneCo's property.
Guiding us through this macabre world is Graverobber (Zdunich), a drug-runner who sells a cheap, black market version of Zydrate (a futuristic anesthetic that's like a glow-in-the-dark mix between codeine and ecstasy) to drug-and-surgery addicts on the street.
The movie largely takes place from the point of view of one of these Repo Men, Nathan Wallace (Head), and his daughter, Shiloh (Vega), who is suffering from an unnamed blood illness that makes traveling outside of her home dangerous, and possibly deadly, and who is unaware of her father's profession. In order to keep her safe, Nathan keeps Shiloh locked in her bedroom. Longing to explore the world outside, and bitter towards her mother for passing the blood disease on to her, Shiloh embodies one of the underlying themes of Repo!- Are our destinies sealed by fate (by our genetics), or do we have a choice in the matter?
Early on in the movie, Rotti Largo (Sorvino), the owner and founder of GeneCo, learns that his time is running out. Without skipping a beat, his two sons, the hellishly-tempered Luigi (Moseley) and the freakish playboy, Pavi (Ogre), begin to fight over who will take over when their father is gone. Meanwhile, the third Largo sibling, and poster child for the Zydrate Support Network, Amber Sweet (Hilton), dreams of being in the spotlight after the popular opera singer, and GeneCo spokeswoman, Blind Mag (Brightman), gives her upcoming farewell performance.
The film explores the connections between each of these individuals, and gives their backstories in comic book style vignettes that show how their lives were all once intertwined. Even if you've been following the Repo! site, these short stories provide shocking twists (I heard more than a few gasps when one such twist is revealed). They're an ingenious way of providing these back stories in a stylized manner without having to stretch Repo!'s already thin budget.
One of the things that really struck me about Repo! is how surreal the whole atmosphere is. The colours are very garish (lots of reds, blues, and yellows), and a very hyper-polished finish to the picture. Your computer screen really can't capture just how amazing it looks on the big screen.
And, of course, the other thing that stands out is the music. It's an eclectic mix of rock, punk, pop, electronica, and, of course, opera. I was a bit worried that since I'd been listening to the Pre-Surgery Sampler on a loop, and listening to the theatrical CD as well, that I'd pretty much heard the outstanding numbers in the movie, and that there wouldn't be many surprises. Again, I was surprised. One of the stand-outs for me was "Things You See In A Graveyard", with Rotti Largo's voice echoing throughout the atmosphere over a ghostly chorus of funeral-goers and thrashing guitar riffs. My other favorite is "Chromaggia's Lament", Mag's haunting, operatic farewell song.
While Repo! is VERY unique, and has some very colorful characters, it isn't the camp fest that I was expecting it to be. It's actually a very GOOD movie, and definitely has a heart behind all of it's badassness.
It's also VERY graphic. It was actually a bit more violent than I was expecting. While the violence typically occurs during songs that lessen their impact, and make them more humorous than scary, it's still very over-the-top, and several scenes in particular caused people in my screening to gasp and scream.
My only complaint about the film is that it occasionally appears a bit conflicted about what emotion it wants to elicit from you. I'll give you an example (and forgive me if it comes off as vague, I'm avoiding spoilers)- In one scene in particular, the gorgeously eery song being sung leads up to an act that is both powerfully moving and deeply repulsing. If it were a bit more tastefully executed, it would have come off as a beautiful, empowering scene, and a highly memorable one at that. However, rather than going for that particular emotional impact, the camera lingers on the extremely violent act being committed, without cutting away, to the point of being completely over-the-top, snuffing out its emotional aspect and causing it to be remembered as one of the most disgusting scenes in the movie, rather than one of the most beautiful.
Overall, I would definitely say that I enjoyed Repo!, and I'm looking forward to buying the soundtrack on September 30th. This movie is something that needs to be experienced on the big screen.
For anyone concerned about contented-related issues (if you're wondering if you should take your child, or if you have problems watching certain film content), here's how I'd rate it:
Violence: 9/10 (not pervasive, but when it happens, it's very graphic) Sex: 4/10 (some dialogue, situations, and mild nudity.. nothing to write home about) Scares: 5/10 (some disturbing situations... but it's mostly darkly humorous, rather than scary)
I was wrong.
For those of you who haven't been following the Repo! phenomenon, Repo! is an audacious rock opera (completely sung, with some occasional atonal, rhythmic dialogue) that takes place in a Gothic not-too-distant future. An epidemic of organ failures has broken out, but luckily, GeneCo, a massive genetics company, has a solution- They start harvesting organs and offering them to consumers with easy financing options. However, these organs are subject to default, and if you start missing your payments, GeneCo sends out the Repo Man to take back GeneCo's property.
Guiding us through this macabre world is Graverobber (Zdunich), a drug-runner who sells a cheap, black market version of Zydrate (a futuristic anesthetic that's like a glow-in-the-dark mix between codeine and ecstasy) to drug-and-surgery addicts on the street.
The movie largely takes place from the point of view of one of these Repo Men, Nathan Wallace (Head), and his daughter, Shiloh (Vega), who is suffering from an unnamed blood illness that makes traveling outside of her home dangerous, and possibly deadly, and who is unaware of her father's profession. In order to keep her safe, Nathan keeps Shiloh locked in her bedroom. Longing to explore the world outside, and bitter towards her mother for passing the blood disease on to her, Shiloh embodies one of the underlying themes of Repo!- Are our destinies sealed by fate (by our genetics), or do we have a choice in the matter?
Early on in the movie, Rotti Largo (Sorvino), the owner and founder of GeneCo, learns that his time is running out. Without skipping a beat, his two sons, the hellishly-tempered Luigi (Moseley) and the freakish playboy, Pavi (Ogre), begin to fight over who will take over when their father is gone. Meanwhile, the third Largo sibling, and poster child for the Zydrate Support Network, Amber Sweet (Hilton), dreams of being in the spotlight after the popular opera singer, and GeneCo spokeswoman, Blind Mag (Brightman), gives her upcoming farewell performance.
The film explores the connections between each of these individuals, and gives their backstories in comic book style vignettes that show how their lives were all once intertwined. Even if you've been following the Repo! site, these short stories provide shocking twists (I heard more than a few gasps when one such twist is revealed). They're an ingenious way of providing these back stories in a stylized manner without having to stretch Repo!'s already thin budget.
One of the things that really struck me about Repo! is how surreal the whole atmosphere is. The colours are very garish (lots of reds, blues, and yellows), and a very hyper-polished finish to the picture. Your computer screen really can't capture just how amazing it looks on the big screen.
And, of course, the other thing that stands out is the music. It's an eclectic mix of rock, punk, pop, electronica, and, of course, opera. I was a bit worried that since I'd been listening to the Pre-Surgery Sampler on a loop, and listening to the theatrical CD as well, that I'd pretty much heard the outstanding numbers in the movie, and that there wouldn't be many surprises. Again, I was surprised. One of the stand-outs for me was "Things You See In A Graveyard", with Rotti Largo's voice echoing throughout the atmosphere over a ghostly chorus of funeral-goers and thrashing guitar riffs. My other favorite is "Chromaggia's Lament", Mag's haunting, operatic farewell song.
While Repo! is VERY unique, and has some very colorful characters, it isn't the camp fest that I was expecting it to be. It's actually a very GOOD movie, and definitely has a heart behind all of it's badassness.
It's also VERY graphic. It was actually a bit more violent than I was expecting. While the violence typically occurs during songs that lessen their impact, and make them more humorous than scary, it's still very over-the-top, and several scenes in particular caused people in my screening to gasp and scream.
My only complaint about the film is that it occasionally appears a bit conflicted about what emotion it wants to elicit from you. I'll give you an example (and forgive me if it comes off as vague, I'm avoiding spoilers)- In one scene in particular, the gorgeously eery song being sung leads up to an act that is both powerfully moving and deeply repulsing. If it were a bit more tastefully executed, it would have come off as a beautiful, empowering scene, and a highly memorable one at that. However, rather than going for that particular emotional impact, the camera lingers on the extremely violent act being committed, without cutting away, to the point of being completely over-the-top, snuffing out its emotional aspect and causing it to be remembered as one of the most disgusting scenes in the movie, rather than one of the most beautiful.
Overall, I would definitely say that I enjoyed Repo!, and I'm looking forward to buying the soundtrack on September 30th. This movie is something that needs to be experienced on the big screen.
For anyone concerned about contented-related issues (if you're wondering if you should take your child, or if you have problems watching certain film content), here's how I'd rate it:
Violence: 9/10 (not pervasive, but when it happens, it's very graphic) Sex: 4/10 (some dialogue, situations, and mild nudity.. nothing to write home about) Scares: 5/10 (some disturbing situations... but it's mostly darkly humorous, rather than scary)