Wow … !
I think four people have had an experience, tonight.
That sounds ominous, doesn’t it?
But it isn’t.
Really, it isn’t.
Well …
I’ve got to admit, I had planned to put Guy Ritchie flick, “Snatch” on, tonight, when Adrian, Allison and Paul all tottered over to see a film, tonight.
Until Adrian, in a slightly more puckish mood than usual — and I’m hoping he doesn’t mind being described as being puckish? … Adrian? — showed off something he’d picked up at Brentwood Library.
Which looked rather interesting, in a sort of Bladerunner/cyberpunk sort of way.
But what surprised all of us was the one thing we weren’t expecting.
It’s an opera.
No, seriously, it’s an actual opera: with singing?
Yeah, that kind of Opera*!!
Not something I think Adrian expected to find in the Horror section.
Blood, guts, assorted organs: and lots of scenes of Anthony Steward Head disembowelling people and happily singing as he goes.
And looking rather gleeful, as he does …
Now I mention it, the plot’s a bit Guignol, as well.
Although maybe I should say Gothic?
Actually, that’s a good choice of words, there, I think; I think anyone who goes for Lene Lovich, Storm Constantine, or Within Temptationº will love this. If nothing else, the look and feel of High Fetish, Late Victorian, post-industrial Steam-punk will go down well.
But I was saying the plot’s a bit Gothic. It’s …
Um …
Multi-threaded …
But boils down like this.
It’s 2056, 26 years after a plague has decimated humanity, and allowed a biotech company to achieve a lot of power by controlling organ transplant: and having bailiffs available to extract late payments … with a scalpel.
Following one such Repo man — Nathan, played by Anthony Stewart Head — as he goes about his job, and worries about his sick daughter, Shilo.
It gets tangled, from there …
But you can see why — from the blurb on the back of the box — it was easy to get the impression it’s something it’s possibly not …
We definitely got the impression it was a straight out action film.
•••••
Is opera supposed to be like this?
Frankly, I don’t know.
Coming from the sort of background where any kind of opera is a rare thing, I don’t think any of us would have watched Repo! had we known it was — quite literally — an operaª.
It’s not the first form of entertainment we’d go for.
And I think we all agreed that, at an hour and a half — usually about right for most movies — it was pushing it, length-wise, but — big word, that, ‘but’ — but it was definitely not one we’d’ve collectively usually gone for.
And while it’s not as fun as The Rocky Horror Picture Show — I don’t think there’s anything as much fun as The Rocky Horror Picture Show — I think we definitely wouldn’t have missed it.
This is a very different, interesting and, for all of us tonight, an unexpectedly watchable film.
Seriously watchable!
And, to quote Allison, herself; “It’s quite an experience!”
•••••
| Cast | |
| Character | Actor |
| Alexa Vega | Shilo Wallace |
| Paul Sorvino | Rotti Largo |
| Anthony Head | Nathan / Repo Man |
| Sarah Brightman | Blind Mag |
| Paris Hilton | Amber Sweet |
| Bill Moseley | Luigi Largo |
| Ogre | Pavi Largo |
| Terrance Zdunich | Graverobber |
| Sarah Power | Marni |
•••••
* I’ve got to admit, it’s practically the only one I’ve seen. Or second one I’ve seen, if you include Tommy.
º Within Temptation rate a mention because that’s exactly who I was reminded of, hearing the score, itself. Or, at least, the one album I’ve got, by them; 2003’s Mother Earth. Definitely worth a listen.
ª Strictly speaking, it’s an operetta, rather than an opera. There’s some minimal spoken dialogue, which makes Repo! The Genetic Opera the former, rather than the latter. Amazing what writing pub quizzes can teach you …
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