Originally posted to my tgwtg blog on August 1st 2010
Whew boy, talk about a polarized fanbase. Depending on who you ask, Repo is either a steaming pile of failure, scenery-chewing, and gratuitous gore, or a crazy awesome triumph in storytelling, music, and... well, gratuitous gore. Keep in mind that this is a rock opera directed by Darren Lynn Bousman– who did three of the Saw films– and it’s rated R for a reason.
So ladies, gentlemen! Signore, singori! Don’t you dare touch your PC! Without further ado, let’s grab our scalpels and dig in to Repo! The Genetic Opera.
This film really is Terrence Zdunich and Darren Smith’s baby. Zdunich and Smith (who plays the Band Leader during ‘We started this Op’ra’ shit,’ BTW), co-composed and co-wrote the original stage production and screenplay. Zdunich also acts in both versions, playing Graverobber: a singing drug dealer– who, surprisingly enough, robs graves– and acts as the film’s greek chorus while making the fourth wall his bitch.
The story is as follows:
In the near future, a massive epidemic of organ failures brings mankind to it’s knees. That’s where Gene Co. comes in– a biotechnology megacorporation that deals in organ transplants– and becomes a global superpower, headed by Rotti Largo (played by Paul Sorvino). Of course these organs, some of which have been artificially enhanced, are expensive, and "Repo Men," (surgeons who work for Gene Co.) are legally authorized to hunt down and gut anyone who can’t pay up, returning the organ in question for resale. Nathan Wallace (Anthony Stewart Head) is one of these repo men. Nathan is desperate to keep his secret life as a ‘legal assassin’ secret from his daughter Shiloh (Alexa Vega), who he has raised by himself since the death of his wife, Marni. Shiloh is our protagonist, a seventeen year old girl with a debilitating ‘blood disease’ that keeps her confined to her home.
Our story takes off when Rotti discovers that he’s terminally ill, and Shiloh is caught up in his plan for revenge against her father, and Rotti’s unworthy heirs: Luigi Largo (Bill Moseley), a homicidal maniac with a penchant for ripping off his shirt and stabbing anything that moves; Pavi Largo (played by Ogre, and in honour of my co-viewer, the Caustic Canuck, I can’t help but mention that he’s from Calgary. The film was also shot there, BTW~) who’s prone to cutting off women’s faces and wearing them; and Carmella Largo or her stage name, Amber Sweet (Paris Hilton. Seriously, it’s Paris Hilton– More on this later) who’s addicted to both plastic surgery and the knock-off Zydrate (a powerful painkiller manufactured by Gene Co.) that Graverobber sells.
To give you an idea of what kind of story this is, Luigi and Pavi are the comic relief.
Because Rotti Largo essentially runs the world and Rotti Largo is a huge opera fan, opera is this dystopian future’s favorite form of entertainment. Shiloh meets an old friend of her mother’s, Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman), Gene Co.’s spokeswoman. She is also the star of their "Genetic Opera," and is set to give her last performance; however, if Mag retires, the ‘mighty fine-print’ of her contract means her transplanted eyes will be repossessed– and Rotti has a certain Repo Man in mind.
Of course, then stuff happens that I won’t spoil for you.
To be perfectly honest, I was introduced to repo! through the song ‘21st Century Cure’ by a friend, and my initial reaction was a resounding WTF; however, for some reason, I kept playing it over and over, and it wasn’t long before the majority of the soundtrack had really grown on me.
So, naturally, I had to actually watch it.
Again, I’m totally in love with most of the soundtrack. Most notably anything sung by Anthony Stewart Head, because there’s an interesting distinction made between the characters of ‘Repo Man’ and ‘Nathan Wallace’ (think Billy/Dr.Horrible but with more disembowelment). This becomes especially intriguing as the lines between the two seem to blur, and you get Nathan showing up when you expect Repo man, and most jarringly, Repo Man when you’re looking at Nathan. In terms of just awesome songs, one of my favourites is ‘At the Opera Tonight,’ a pretty damn epic number done in the style of ‘One Day More,’ that showcases everyone’s plans and situation. Then there’s ‘Zydrate Anatomy,’ a notoriously catchy number done in the style of a children’s song, about... doing drugs, sung by Graverobber the God of Exposition.
I also feel that Chromaggia deserves special mention. Basically, for about three minutes, Repo! forgets all about the rock part, and lets Sarah Brightman opera it up. For those unfamiliar, Sarah Brightman was the original Christine in the Broadway version of The Phantom of the Opera. That ridiculously high part at the end of the title song was written with her in mind. Repo! was her film debut. The lyrics are in Italian, but if you feel like looking up a translation, they’re pretty damn relevant to the story. A word of warning for those of you with weak stomachs like mine, and hopefully I can do this without spoiling too much: It’s foreshadowed pretty damn heavily, so what you think is about to happen is, and you are not spared any of the gore. I had figured that the camera would cut away or something, and was sorely mistaken.
Three songs were cut from the movie, and I’d recommend giving them a listen, too. "Can’t get it up if the Girl’s Breathing" which leads into "Come up and try my new Parts," and details Amber’s dealings with Graverobber and involve bouncy representative dance sex, and my favourite of the cut songs, "A Needle Through a bug" in which Shiloh attempts to extract Zydrate from a corpse, and Graverobber hangs upside down from the ceiling. I’m hoping that would have made more sense in context.
Speaking of deleted stuff, there was a subplot removed about Marni’s eyes, which supposedly went to Mag, and her hair, which was used for Shiloh’s wig. This makes ‘A needle Through a Bug’ make a bit more sense, as well as some of the commentary before Night Surgeon, as well as why Marni’s corpse is veiled the way it is. This creates some time line related plot holes regarding Mag’s eyes, but it’s not really in the film, so I’m not going to harp on that.
There’s a lot to like about this film if you give it a chance. Paris Hilton won a razzie for her performance, and there was a ridiculous amount of rage about that casting decision before it had even been released. In my humble opinion, if the angry fans had actually... you know... seen the film instead of flipping out prematurely and deciding it would be crap, I think they’d have been pleasantly surprised. Hilton wasn’t half bad.
I decided to lurk the IMDB to see what other people thought of Repo!, and kept stumbling over a comment that I feel I need to address. "Repo would be better without the singing," to me, is a bit like saying that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon would have been better without the fighting. You are watching a rock opera. That is the nature of the beast. It is understood that there is going to be singing.
Now, there’s the more reasonable argument that some of the singing was awkward, and that I can understand. If you listen to actual opera, there are the songs (the famous bits) and then there’s the really weird bits in between. The songs are "arias," or expressive pieces, like the Habanera or Toreador song from Carmen, or in the case of Repo, things like Legal Assassin, Infected and... well, Chromaggia. The other stuff, the ‘sung-dialogue’ between arias, is known as the ‘recitative.’ Largely plot-driven, supposed to imitate speaking, and can be really strange to listen to. So, again, kind of comes with the territory.
Another common complaint seemed to be the exposition. The film is interrupted every so often by comic strip panels, explaining the character’s back-stories. This is generally followed by the exact same information, but in song-format. This gets pretty redundant, but given that the vast majority is sung– operatically no less– the words can be hard to catch. If you don’t have your heart set on being surprised, again, I’d suggest you familiarize yourself with the songs and the lyrics beforehand.
In terms of stuff that bugs me, there’s none of the "musical number immunity" that’s usually present. Since it’s an opera, and the song lyrics are the dialogue, it’s safe to assume that things happening during songs are actually occurring in-universe. For example, Roxie Hart can belt about how guilty she is because it’s a dream sequence, but Graverobber is actually chased down and caught because he’s screaming. The only issue is that this raises some questions during the song ‘Seventeen’ which, provided Joan Jet doesn’t actually live in Shiloh’s closet, amounts to her running around her room screaming for a good few minutes.
And okay, biomedical science-major nerd time. It’s Gene Co. offers brain and spine transplants. There is so much wrong with that, brain especially, that I don’t even know where to start; however, I forgive repo! as I get the distinct impression that it’s less epic science failure, and mostly for the sake of the song ‘Mark it Up.’ The only thing really ticking me off is the blatant misuse of the word ‘genetic.’ If you can pass it on to your kids, it’s genetic. Anything else is just structural. ‘Make your genetics your bitch?’ Sure. ‘Infected by your genetics?’ Fine, but Gene Co. can’t offer anything like "genetic perfection," because the crappy genes are still there. Of course, this probably also is for song purposes, and I should chill. Have fun fitting ‘physiological’ into a song.
Do those things really detract from liking the film? Nah.
Provided you go in with the right frame of mind, Repo! is a lot of really senseless awesome, and can be enjoyed as such. Coffee is rejected, a guy runs around a makeshift operating room like an airplane, and the girl from Spykids totally drops an F bomb on your childhood.
So if this sounds like your cup of tea, I strongly recommend hunting down the movie, and buying the soundtrack. Both the standard, and deluxe editions are available for purchase on itunes, so finding it is easy enough. It was intended to be the middle of a three part series but the other two had to be put on hold, as repo! wasn’t a very big success commercially. The hope now among fans is to get the word out and stir up enough interest to see the project finished.
Simply put? Bravi, bravi, bravissime! Repo! the Genetic Opera is good. I loved the music, I loved the characters, and here’s to hoping we get to see them again someday.
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