Review: Repo! The Genetic Opera

It's been a long time since I've seen a movie get so viciously torn apart by critics across the board for a less legitimate reason. Now, I've listened to director Darren Lynn Bousman ("Saw"s 2-4) talk about how he knew exactly what he was bringing on himself when he cast Paris Hilton as just one of his eclectic cast. What I doubt he expected was the half-star review from Rolling Stone that essentially bashed her for a paragraph and barely even discussed the movie. Or, for that matter, the slew of other reviews that all followed suit.

Then, there's the uphill battle that "Repo!" has encountered just in trying to get into theaters. Lionsgate, they who buried "Midnight Meat Train," a film I was looking forward to, decided that there wasn't a market for this movie, and so they dumped it in eight theaters nationwide and left it to die. Then, a funny thing happened. It didn't. Word of mouth spread like wildfire, which led Bousman to starting a road tour, touring with the film and trying to spread his enthusiasm. The road tour screenings went off like tent revivals; the film hadn't been released nationwide, and people were still showing up in costume and singing along to the songs.

However, I've managed to go two paragraphs without actually talking about the movie at all. Based on my prior statement, yes, "Repo!" is a rock opera (the filmmakers beg of you not to call it a musical) about a whole lot of things. Mainly, it's about GeneCo, a company that capitalized on a massive epidemic of organ failures by leasing organs to those in need. The company was soon overrun by greed, and now Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino), the CEO of GeneCo, uses Repo Men to repossess the organs of those who default on their payments. Rotti is dying, and he knows that his children are unfit to run his company. There is Luigi (Bill Moseley), who suffers from a severe rage problem; Pavi (Ogre, of industrial legends Skinny Puppy), who cares more about his fake face than anything else, and Amber Sweet (Hilton), who is addicted to both surgery and a futuristic drug extracted from the dead.

A parallel plotline involves Shilo (Alexa Vega), a young girl bedridden by a mysterious disease. Her father Nathan (Anthony Stewart Head) is trying to find a cure, but by night, he is also Rotti's top Repo Man. There is bad blood between Nathan and Rotti, and it gets worse when Shilo's curiosity is piqued by two mysterious figures; the Graverobber (Terrence Zdunich, one of the writers of the film), who acts both as a pimp and drug dealer and the film's Greek muse, and Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman), a star chanteuse for GeneCo who wants out of her contract.

In case it isn't obvious by now, there's a lot going on in this film, all set to people singing. Even those who have championed the film have said that it's incomprehensible, but I disagree; I've now seen it twice, and I perfectly understand what is going on. While watching it, I couldn't help but think of another much-maligned film that came out this time last year, Richard Kelly's pop-trash madhouse "Southland Tales." Both films were a labor of love, and both swing for the fences with a gonzo, wild-eyed aplomb. "Repo!" is considerably more comprehensible, but somehow, it's suffered an even worse fate.

I implore you to seek out this movie. It'll be on video in January, and some of the more successful stops on the road tour (Chicago included) have brought it back for return engagements (it'll be playing at midnight at the Music Box Theatre the weekend of December 26th). If nothing else, just think about this: This film is destined to be the next great cult phenomenon, in the vein of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Don't you want to be able to say you knew about it when it first started?