Repo! The Genetic Opera
Before a friend suggested this for my “A Movie a Week” series this year, I had never heard of this film. Now, I have seen it, and I have to say…I did NOT see this coming.
This is a truly original opera, a play written by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich (who also wrote the musical score) about a future world in which body parts are transplanted regularly. The business is run by GeneCo, a ruthless corporation owned by Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino), who is dying. Unfortunately for Rotti, he finds none of his own children (Bill Moseley, Nivek Ogre, Paris Hilton) worthy. However, there is one child he sees as more than suitable: Shilo (Alexa Vega), the daughter of his former love of his life and her husband, Nathan (Anthony Stewart Head, from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”). After an unfortunate accident during childbirth, Nathan is forced to save either his wife, Marni (who suffers from a blood disease), or his daughter. He chooses the daughter, but not without a price; a doctor, Nathan must now work for Rotti as a Repo Man, repossessing organs that the owners are unable to pay for. All the makings of a classic tragedy, no?
Wait until you see the movie. Based on a cult stage play, the film is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who prior to this made “Saw II,” “III,” and “IV.” (He also directed L.A. and New York productions of the play.) What an inspired choice; already accustomed to cinematic gore thanks to the “Saw” films, Bousman is ideal to bring this dark, macabre, and ultimately sad tale to the screen. The film moves between Gothic beauty and cold, clinical bloodshed with style and genuine visual inspiration. And Bousman gets some great, suprising performances out of his cast, from Sorvino and Head (the two heavyweights in the cast) to Vega, Sarah Brightman (as Blind Mag), Zdunich (who plays a character known as “the Graverobber”), and even Paris Hilton as vein, surgery-addicted singer, Amber Sweet. (Yes, Paris Hilton, and yes, she’s actually good.)
The film is far from a home run– it lacks the depth and pain of “Sweeney Todd,” and the fun of Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” (which came out the same year) –but Bousman proves himself as more than a master of gore in “Repo!”. That’s not to say he’d be able to take on Shakespeare or Dickens, but he makes a gripping, provocative film out of genuinely challenging material. Using animated, comic book cut-aways and stylish editing to help bring the full story to life, Bousman (with the support of Lionsgate and the “Saw” producers at Twisted Pictures) is definitely ready for another challenge after seeing this.
