Sony
R4 DVD
Repo!
The Genetic Opera is a 2008 American rock opera-musical film directed by Darren
Lynn Bousman. The film is based on a play written and composed by Darren Smith
and Terrance Zdunich. It is sent in a future dystopia which has the look and
feel of a gothic version of Blade Runner, it is strange mixture of Science
Fiction and horror with music which mixes heavy rock, gothic and darkwave and
some more operatic flourishes. Many have suggested that Repo ! is a cross
between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Blade Runner and it is hard not to
agree. It is a weird amalgam to say the least but one which grabs your
attention.
When
it comes to music, Repo! Certainly packs them in. It actually holds the record
for the most musical numbers in a movie, coming in at 64, though these are not
all complete songs.
The
movie is set in the year 2056 some decades after an epidemic of organ failures
devastated the planet. Out of the tragedy, a multinational pharmaceutical
company GeneCo, run by Rotti Largo, emerges to provide organ transplants to the
dying masses. But these come at a cost, every organ provided comes with a “hire
purchase” contract and if you miss the ever increasing payments then you are in
real trouble. Rotti Largo soon becomes a major political figure and is able to
push through laws allowing organ repossession.
Now
his RepoMen hit the street recollecting organs from those who do not make their
payments and striking fear into everyone else on their books. GeneCo has also
developed a highly successful but addictive painkiller Zydrate which is helping
their bottom line. It has become so successful that grave robbers are
harvesting it from dead bodies and selling a cheaper version on the street.
One
such Repo man is Nathan who hides his profession from his 17-year-old daughter
Shilo, representing himself as a doctor and surgeon. Nathan’s major concern is
to protect Shilo, who has a blood disease inherited from her mother. He
believes that the only way he can achieve this is to keep her isolated from the
world locked in their house. Shilo feels suffocated and controlled. Inevitably
she escapes and begins a quest to explore the outside world. Soon she begins to
learn of the ominous connections between her father, her disease, and Rotti
Largo, the head of GeneCo.
Repo!
Is a film which is intriguing and memorable but not really successful. Unlike
The Rocky Horror Picture Show the music never really moves above average and
there are no tracks which stick in your memory. Regardless of the overall
interest the film engenders, the music just doesn’t seem to be especially exciting.
Thinking about it a day later I cannot remember a single track and certainly
wouldn’t feel inclined to buy the soundtrack. Sure the music is professional
but at times quantity seems to have overtaken quality and no one song stands
out from the others.
Strangely
this does not invalidate the movie itself. As a quirky and unusual Sci Fi
Horror film it is very entertaining, but it would be fair to say it doesn’t
know what it wants to be – is it a horror film wanting to be a musical or a
musical trying to be a horror film. In the end I don’t think it knows what it
wants to be and this leaves it a good, amusing and at times horrifying film,
but not a great one !
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.4
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here
to go to the Synergy Magazine front page. (http://www.synergy-magazine.com)