- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,067
When I picked Repo off the shelf, I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard of the movie only once- at last years showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where they showed a trailer for the film and it piqued my interest, but the film never came here and I quickly forgot of its existence until I saw it at my DVD Rental place. After watching it, I can say that while it has some very low points, much of it is a very effective and warped film with some decent music. Not a great film, but if you love warped films and if you can get past the fact that some of the people can't sing, it's got a decent tune to tell the story.
The film is set somewhere in the 2050's, after a pandemic of organ failure takes millions of lives. Out of the ashes rises GeneCo, a corporation who could replace the damaged organs and save lives with a simple finance payment. Soon they did more than just sell organs, they began selling Zydrate, an addictive pain medication and soon surgery was part of a fashion statement. The owner of GeneCo, Rotti Largo himself is finally dying and he can't cure even himself. He has 3 children; Pavli, who constantly "steals" faces and surgically implants them over his own, Luigi, who has a violent temper that often gets people killed, and then finally Amber Sweet, unfortunately played by the awful Paris Hilton, who has to constantly update her appearance or she starts to deteriorate (A rather funny moment is when her face literally falls off on stage.). Rotti Largo eventually passes a bill legalizing Organ Repossession, and if you miss your payments they send out the repo man who will kill and cut the GeneCo parts back out of your system. The rest of the films story all hinges around a woman named Marni, whose death ties together Nathan (Who is the Repoman against his own will), Rotti, and a singer named Blind Mag whose eyes are GeneCo property. It connects well and its a nice, deceptive story of murder and slavery. Nathan's daughter, Shilo, also plays a major part, arguably she is the main protagonist but since she mostly just learns whats going on, she falls behind Nathan, Rotti, and Blind Mag who are truly the stars of the show.
The film has some flaws, for one, all 3 of Largo's children cannot sing to save their lives, and I can't believe I'm saying this but while she isn't much better than the other two, Paris Hilton is actually the "Best" of the children in terms of "singing." That's not really saying much though. Another flaw I can call out is that the film is at times rather misogynistic without any good reason, with the exception of Blind Mag, Marni, Shilo and a few women in the crowd, all women in the movie are over-sexualized without any real point and I couldn't help but feel that the violent abuse of women was an unpleasant undertone in the film. The music in the film, while not the best heard, is actually fairly good when the characters are actually singing. It's not done in "Traditional" musical style, meaning no one ever just randomly breaks out in song and dance with silly choreography with the exception of a scene where Shilo tries to rebel against her father, but instead it is done in an operatic fashion and almost every passage rhymes. It won't change your mind about musicals if you don't like them, but as a fan of musicals myself I liked the style because it flowed well with the film. The best of the singers are by far, thankfully, the 3 "Main" characters of the film, Rotti played by Paul Sorvino, Nathan/Repo man played by Anthony Head, and Blind Mag played by Sarah Brightman. They have very operatic voices and great vocal range, although my personal favourite was Blind Mag. There is a scene where she visits Shilo, and using her enhanced eyes (That gave her more than just the ability to see, but they also are enhanced in order to store and even project memories) projects a ghost of Marni, Shilo's dead mother in order to try and convince Shilo to let Mag into her home against her fathers will. The scene has one of the best songs, and the image of Marni makes the scene haunting both in sound and visuals, as her hologram is singing a haunting yet beautiful opera song that actually fits with the more rock-oriented song. There is also an italian opera sung by Mag later on, which marks another high point in the sound track.
It's really hard to describe what kind of movie Repo is. It's a horror film. It's a gore fest. It's a dark comedy. It's a surrealist statement on fashion and consumerism. It's a sci-fi. It's a classical opera and a rock opera. It's just.. hard to classify, but it stands on its own and is a wholly unique film. If you can look past its flaws, both little and great, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a film worth seeing.
Overall, I'd give it a 7.8/10. If some of its flaws were a little less glaring, I'd gladly give it an 8 or maybe even a 9.
(Oh, also it's by far Darren Lynn Bousman's best picture. You may know him for the mediocre sequels to James Wan's "Saw.")
The film is set somewhere in the 2050's, after a pandemic of organ failure takes millions of lives. Out of the ashes rises GeneCo, a corporation who could replace the damaged organs and save lives with a simple finance payment. Soon they did more than just sell organs, they began selling Zydrate, an addictive pain medication and soon surgery was part of a fashion statement. The owner of GeneCo, Rotti Largo himself is finally dying and he can't cure even himself. He has 3 children; Pavli, who constantly "steals" faces and surgically implants them over his own, Luigi, who has a violent temper that often gets people killed, and then finally Amber Sweet, unfortunately played by the awful Paris Hilton, who has to constantly update her appearance or she starts to deteriorate (A rather funny moment is when her face literally falls off on stage.). Rotti Largo eventually passes a bill legalizing Organ Repossession, and if you miss your payments they send out the repo man who will kill and cut the GeneCo parts back out of your system. The rest of the films story all hinges around a woman named Marni, whose death ties together Nathan (Who is the Repoman against his own will), Rotti, and a singer named Blind Mag whose eyes are GeneCo property. It connects well and its a nice, deceptive story of murder and slavery. Nathan's daughter, Shilo, also plays a major part, arguably she is the main protagonist but since she mostly just learns whats going on, she falls behind Nathan, Rotti, and Blind Mag who are truly the stars of the show.
The film has some flaws, for one, all 3 of Largo's children cannot sing to save their lives, and I can't believe I'm saying this but while she isn't much better than the other two, Paris Hilton is actually the "Best" of the children in terms of "singing." That's not really saying much though. Another flaw I can call out is that the film is at times rather misogynistic without any good reason, with the exception of Blind Mag, Marni, Shilo and a few women in the crowd, all women in the movie are over-sexualized without any real point and I couldn't help but feel that the violent abuse of women was an unpleasant undertone in the film. The music in the film, while not the best heard, is actually fairly good when the characters are actually singing. It's not done in "Traditional" musical style, meaning no one ever just randomly breaks out in song and dance with silly choreography with the exception of a scene where Shilo tries to rebel against her father, but instead it is done in an operatic fashion and almost every passage rhymes. It won't change your mind about musicals if you don't like them, but as a fan of musicals myself I liked the style because it flowed well with the film. The best of the singers are by far, thankfully, the 3 "Main" characters of the film, Rotti played by Paul Sorvino, Nathan/Repo man played by Anthony Head, and Blind Mag played by Sarah Brightman. They have very operatic voices and great vocal range, although my personal favourite was Blind Mag. There is a scene where she visits Shilo, and using her enhanced eyes (That gave her more than just the ability to see, but they also are enhanced in order to store and even project memories) projects a ghost of Marni, Shilo's dead mother in order to try and convince Shilo to let Mag into her home against her fathers will. The scene has one of the best songs, and the image of Marni makes the scene haunting both in sound and visuals, as her hologram is singing a haunting yet beautiful opera song that actually fits with the more rock-oriented song. There is also an italian opera sung by Mag later on, which marks another high point in the sound track.
It's really hard to describe what kind of movie Repo is. It's a horror film. It's a gore fest. It's a dark comedy. It's a surrealist statement on fashion and consumerism. It's a sci-fi. It's a classical opera and a rock opera. It's just.. hard to classify, but it stands on its own and is a wholly unique film. If you can look past its flaws, both little and great, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a film worth seeing.
Overall, I'd give it a 7.8/10. If some of its flaws were a little less glaring, I'd gladly give it an 8 or maybe even a 9.
(Oh, also it's by far Darren Lynn Bousman's best picture. You may know him for the mediocre sequels to James Wan's "Saw.")
