SusannahREPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
January 3rd 2010 06:00
REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA (2008)
Starring: Alexa Vega, Anthony Stewart Head, Sarah Brightman, Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino,Terrance Zdunich.
Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Originally a stage musical by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a film aiming for the same kind of cult following as The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Set in a future world where organs are commodities that can easily be repossessed if you get behind on your payments, and what you are born with genetically can easily be altered, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a dystopian musical about changing the hand you have been dealt, and the costs associated with that.
Nearly entirely told in song (with animated sequences to tell the backstory), the narrative focuses on 17 year old Shilo (Alexa Vega) who has been raised by her father after her mother, Marni, died of a blood disease. Shilo suffers from the same condition and is forbidden by her father to leave the house, or to have visitors over. Her father Nathan is a doctor (or so she believes), who tried to cure Marni of her condition, but she died when he gave her the cure, and he had to choose between saving her, or the child she was carrying, Shilo.
Meanwhile, her father Nathan is actually the Repo Man, a legal assassin, who retrieves organs from people who have fallen behind in their payments. This inevitably results in the deaths of those people. He repossesses organs on behalf of Geneco, a corporation that is run by Rotti Largo, who was in love with Shilo’s mother when she left him to marry Nathan. Rotti learns that he has a fatal disease that not even organ replacement can cure. He has three awful children who are waiting to learn who he will nominate as the heir to his empire: Luigi is a sadistic, knife-happy monster, Pavi wears a new face in the form of skin stretched over his old one; and, in an inspired piece of meta-casting, Paris Hilton plays his daughter, Amber Sweet, who is a plastic-surgery obsessed, street- drug addict with ambitions for a singing career.
This dystopian future of tradeable body parts is part Bladerunner, part gothic nightmare, with decent dark visuals and gore from director Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III & IV). Alexa Vega and Paris Hilton are both kitted-out in long black wigs, and broadway songbird Sarah Brightman has been gothed-up to the extreme. Brightman plays Blind Mag who was Marni’s best friend, and who has essentially sold her soul to Geneco: in exchange for being able to see, she must perform for the company as their personal singer and advertiser.
The songs are all for the most part written and performed in a rock-opera metal style. All the performances are good, with most of the actors, including Paris Hilton, pulling off the singing pretty well. Alexa Vega sounds a little too much like Avril Lavigne for my liking but excels in the final song. Paul Sorvino as Rotti Largo has a huge operatic voice. Sarah Brightman sings beautifully in Chase the Morning and in solo number Chromaggia. The only real problem with the film is that a lot of the songs are too short. They are not given the space to breathe and expand upon the music. Instead they hop around from musical genre to musical genre within the same song, making it hard for the viewer to engage with the music, and therefore, with the story. The longer songs are much more effective, and consequently more engaging. It is in these moments that you can glimpse how this could have become a cult classic, if only the set pieces had been given more room to move. The film could easily have been longer without becoming tedious, and that would have allowed for a greater expansion of its many ideas. Still, this film is unique and well worth watching for the experience.
Starring: Alexa Vega, Anthony Stewart Head, Sarah Brightman, Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino,Terrance Zdunich.
Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Originally a stage musical by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a film aiming for the same kind of cult following as The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Set in a future world where organs are commodities that can easily be repossessed if you get behind on your payments, and what you are born with genetically can easily be altered, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a dystopian musical about changing the hand you have been dealt, and the costs associated with that.
Nearly entirely told in song (with animated sequences to tell the backstory), the narrative focuses on 17 year old Shilo (Alexa Vega) who has been raised by her father after her mother, Marni, died of a blood disease. Shilo suffers from the same condition and is forbidden by her father to leave the house, or to have visitors over. Her father Nathan is a doctor (or so she believes), who tried to cure Marni of her condition, but she died when he gave her the cure, and he had to choose between saving her, or the child she was carrying, Shilo.
Meanwhile, her father Nathan is actually the Repo Man, a legal assassin, who retrieves organs from people who have fallen behind in their payments. This inevitably results in the deaths of those people. He repossesses organs on behalf of Geneco, a corporation that is run by Rotti Largo, who was in love with Shilo’s mother when she left him to marry Nathan. Rotti learns that he has a fatal disease that not even organ replacement can cure. He has three awful children who are waiting to learn who he will nominate as the heir to his empire: Luigi is a sadistic, knife-happy monster, Pavi wears a new face in the form of skin stretched over his old one; and, in an inspired piece of meta-casting, Paris Hilton plays his daughter, Amber Sweet, who is a plastic-surgery obsessed, street- drug addict with ambitions for a singing career.
This dystopian future of tradeable body parts is part Bladerunner, part gothic nightmare, with decent dark visuals and gore from director Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III & IV). Alexa Vega and Paris Hilton are both kitted-out in long black wigs, and broadway songbird Sarah Brightman has been gothed-up to the extreme. Brightman plays Blind Mag who was Marni’s best friend, and who has essentially sold her soul to Geneco: in exchange for being able to see, she must perform for the company as their personal singer and advertiser.
The songs are all for the most part written and performed in a rock-opera metal style. All the performances are good, with most of the actors, including Paris Hilton, pulling off the singing pretty well. Alexa Vega sounds a little too much like Avril Lavigne for my liking but excels in the final song. Paul Sorvino as Rotti Largo has a huge operatic voice. Sarah Brightman sings beautifully in Chase the Morning and in solo number Chromaggia. The only real problem with the film is that a lot of the songs are too short. They are not given the space to breathe and expand upon the music. Instead they hop around from musical genre to musical genre within the same song, making it hard for the viewer to engage with the music, and therefore, with the story. The longer songs are much more effective, and consequently more engaging. It is in these moments that you can glimpse how this could have become a cult classic, if only the set pieces had been given more room to move. The film could easily have been longer without becoming tedious, and that would have allowed for a greater expansion of its many ideas. Still, this film is unique and well worth watching for the experience.
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