toronto after dark 2008

Love. Betrayal. Drugs. Surgical addiction. Organs with bar codes. Dysfunctional families. Brilliant style. Incredible performances. That’s the essence of Repo! The Genetic Opera, a cult film so good that it’s following has already reached scarily legendary levels, despite not even having a limited release date.

Given that this story prides itself on being an ‘opera’, its story is epic, being almost impossible to describe without spoiling it. I’ll give it a shot though. In the ‘not too distant future’ organ failure has reached epidemic levels and people are dying. Out of the fire comes a savior in the form of Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) who creates GeneCo, a company who will grow organs for transplantation and sell them to you in order to save your life. Be careful though, if you don’t make your organ payment Rotti will send The Repo Man (Anthony Stewart Head) after you and take back the organ. As a result of this system surgical addiction has become the latest fashion trend (it no longer matters what you look like on the outside) and organ repossessions have reached an all-time high. Rotti, however, is dying – and even he can’t save himself – however, his children are bitter disappointments to him, all three being spoiled brats. He desperately does not want them to inherit the company and is looking for another heir. The Repo Man has a story too. His name is Nathan Wallace and by day he is the tragic single father of Shilo; a broken man who believes he killed his wife while she was pregnant with Shilo. Being a doctor and only able to save either mother or child, he chooses child and, in his desperate time of grief, agrees to become a Repo Man for Rotti in order to secure a future for his child. The story begins as Shilo, a sickly child, turns 17 and begins to want to have a life outside of the room she has been sequestered in. Rotti has designs, driven by a long, lost love, on making Shilo his heir and curing her of her disease.

And that is genuinely only scratching the surface, although it’s all I can say without spoiling some major plot points.

I must say that I was very surprised by Anthony Stewart Head, even though I shouldn’t have been, given his stellar performances in everything I’ve ever seen him in (er, Buffy and Doctor Who), but he was compelling and commanding and every time he was on the screen, he was the most interesting thing there. Sarah Brightman was also fantastic, although, again the most interesting thing on the screen and – despite playing a minor role – she was one of the most memorable things about the movie. The rest of the cast (Paul Sorvino, Paris Hilton, Alexa Varga, Bill Moseley and Orge) were also fantastic, bringing in performances that I didn’t expect, especially from Sorvino and Hilton. Special nod should go to Terrance Zdunich who played the Graverobber and also did the score and comic-style interludes. He was at the screening at After Dark and is an incredibly talented artist with a great deal of vision.

Speaking of vision, this movie is resplendent with it. Everything from the physical world it’s set in to the clothing people wear to the politics the characters are embroiled in has a very specific vision that is beautifully executed. The costume designer, Alex Kavanagh, seemed to indicate that the costumes were put together based on two instructions from director Darren Lynn Bousman: he wanted them to look cool and a little bit Goth. Beyond that, it was her ballgame. She also indicated that most of the costumes were put together very quickly and on a limited budget which, quite frankly, is amazing, given the highly stylized, well-conceived product (which basically just means this woman is really good at her job).

As for how I liked the movie, I have to say that I enjoyed it a great deal. I had heard that it was difficult to understand, due to it being an opera-style musical in which almost all dialogue was sung. Since I have severe problems understanding the lyrics to a pop song with anything more complex than ‘I kissed a girl and I liked it’, I was very worried that I would be supremely lost. I was very pleased to say that I had no problem hearing, understanding or following the plot. And a lot of plot there is. Only in a few places did the score and the scene descend into ‘Rent’-style pop-rock musical and I think that’s excellent, really. Let’s be honest. This musical – sorry, opera – while unique in its specific execution of plot and setting is built upon every pop/rock ‘opera’ that came before it (largely to Broadway, very few to the screen), but it will suffer significantly from any attempt to draw the obvious comparisons. This is not Rocky Horror. This is not Tommy (although the Broadway version of Tommy would be what this is most closely related to). It is it’s own movie and it deserves to be viewed with a clean slate. It is not without its flaws, certainly, what what cult film is not? Why it doesn’t have a release date yet is a complete mystery to me and I sincerely hope it gets one. Although, keeping it from having one only makes people foam at the mouth harder to see it when it does screen.

If or when this movie gets a release, in a local grindhouse, a major theatre or DVD it’s more than worth your time. It’s worth a couple of viewings, actually. And I think it will certainly take its place among the better cult films. And while it remains NOT Rocky Horror, like I said above, it will certainly define a generation like Rocky did.

NOTE: Based on the response from the audience at Toronto After Dark, Repo! The Genetic Opera was able to secure a one week run at The Bloor, on now through Thursday. Check The Bloor’s website for details. Don’t miss it! There’s cast and crew Q&As after every screening and they’re giving away props from the movie.

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