REPO!: The Genetic Opera (movie)
If you are into bizarre films, GO SEE THIS! http://www.repo-opera.com
Got to see this last night at the Ritz V. There has been a lot of buzz about the movie, and damn if it wasn't justified!
What is REPO? Best way I can describe it would be a post-modern Rocky Horror Picture Show. RHPS meets Blade Runner, on acid. And yes, like RHPS, its a musical. In fact, there is more singing that actual spoken dialogue. Also, like RHPS, REPO started as a stage play about a decade ago. Instead of Richard O'Brien, you have Terrance Zdunich, one of the writers of the film, an lead supporting actor and author of much of the music.
Read the WIKI ENTRY for a description of the plot, I'm not going to cover that ground. The cast I do need to comment on. From top to bottom I was amazed. Paul Sorvino (using his opera training quite impressively), Anthony Stewart Head (can't see him as Giles after this performance), Alexa Vega (from Spy Kids and damn can she sing), and Sarah Brightman just to name a few. Even Paris Hilton did not suck, and the fact that we got to see her with her face ripped off was a plus.
I was and am a big fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have seen it in theaters more than 200 times. I was going almost everyday Saturday in the early 80's which was still in the heyday of the RHPS experience. Back then, you went to see Rocky, not to see the movie, but to be part of the crowd, the community. It was wild, and free, and accepting in a lot of ways. You could be anyone you happened to be. Sitting in the audience last night, I felt that again. There have been about 20 showings of the film during its current road tour. Last night when I was in the theater, a noticeable percentage were in costume. About half the crowd had previously seen the film. During the musical numbers, the theater resonated with the voices of the theatergoers singing along. It wasn't a movie, it was a carnival; a bloody, vicious, hard rocking carnival, and I was along for the ride!
While I am sure that many folks will find the soundtrack appealing, I am not sure how well the DVD will do. REPO is not a film to be watched relaxing in your living room. It is a theater movie, a crowd movie. It needs to be seen with a theater full of rabid ,costumed freaks, wailing at the top of their lungs. Because afterward, if you aren't already, you will want to be one of them.
My 42nd birthday is a few weeks away. Last night, waiting for the show to start, I felt old. I was clearly on the older end of the bell curve. But by the end of the movie, I was 16 again. Breaking curfew to go see RHPS at the GCC Northeast 4 theater. It felt good to be young.
Got to see this last night at the Ritz V. There has been a lot of buzz about the movie, and damn if it wasn't justified!
What is REPO? Best way I can describe it would be a post-modern Rocky Horror Picture Show. RHPS meets Blade Runner, on acid. And yes, like RHPS, its a musical. In fact, there is more singing that actual spoken dialogue. Also, like RHPS, REPO started as a stage play about a decade ago. Instead of Richard O'Brien, you have Terrance Zdunich, one of the writers of the film, an lead supporting actor and author of much of the music.
Read the WIKI ENTRY for a description of the plot, I'm not going to cover that ground. The cast I do need to comment on. From top to bottom I was amazed. Paul Sorvino (using his opera training quite impressively), Anthony Stewart Head (can't see him as Giles after this performance), Alexa Vega (from Spy Kids and damn can she sing), and Sarah Brightman just to name a few. Even Paris Hilton did not suck, and the fact that we got to see her with her face ripped off was a plus.
I was and am a big fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have seen it in theaters more than 200 times. I was going almost everyday Saturday in the early 80's which was still in the heyday of the RHPS experience. Back then, you went to see Rocky, not to see the movie, but to be part of the crowd, the community. It was wild, and free, and accepting in a lot of ways. You could be anyone you happened to be. Sitting in the audience last night, I felt that again. There have been about 20 showings of the film during its current road tour. Last night when I was in the theater, a noticeable percentage were in costume. About half the crowd had previously seen the film. During the musical numbers, the theater resonated with the voices of the theatergoers singing along. It wasn't a movie, it was a carnival; a bloody, vicious, hard rocking carnival, and I was along for the ride!
While I am sure that many folks will find the soundtrack appealing, I am not sure how well the DVD will do. REPO is not a film to be watched relaxing in your living room. It is a theater movie, a crowd movie. It needs to be seen with a theater full of rabid ,costumed freaks, wailing at the top of their lungs. Because afterward, if you aren't already, you will want to be one of them.
My 42nd birthday is a few weeks away. Last night, waiting for the show to start, I felt old. I was clearly on the older end of the bell curve. But by the end of the movie, I was 16 again. Breaking curfew to go see RHPS at the GCC Northeast 4 theater. It felt good to be young.