Not exactly your Astaire flick

[tilly_stratford]

Hey, I forgot: Now that Repo! The Genetic Opera has come out on DVD (and is, amazingly, available for purchase at my local retailer) I could finally see it and see what all the fuss was about (a fuss that has pretty much died down these days as far as I can see, but when it premiered last year everybody was talking about it).

I'm... not entirely sure what I think about it. Anyway I'm one of those people who can listen through an entire song for a single bar I like, or watch a movie for a particular gesture someone does, so as for Repo...

I loved how it looked, I loved the cartoon bridges, and most of the costumes (come on, the estethic quality of busty ladies with gas masks is hardly a new concept to me). I liked the use of a sort of Puck-like narrator. I liked the plot with Nathan and his daughter. And fuck, I love Anthony Stewart Head when he delivers.

But even all those things couldn't quite redeem the movie for me. I wanted to like it. For one it seemed sort of... flat. Had there been another level in there I would have felt more satisfied after watching it.

But mostly I think I found it lacking because I feel that the No. 1 priority of any musical (or "opera" as they call this, though it doesn't seem to fit in with the opera characteristics I once learned at school) is good music. And I'm going to sound like a geriatric old fart when I say: Whatever happened to melodies? Whatever happened to the good tunes that get stuck in your head and that you find yourself humming to when you get home? Repo is described as a rock opera, yet all I find is that annoying musical way of singing the lines like the actors had to ad lib right there and then.

I mean, people keep comparing Repo to Rocky Horror - and though Repo might succeed in ways Rocky Horror failed, at least I bought the soundtrack to RHPS, you know?



Silly me had somehow remembered that Paris Hilton is in this, yet not Sarah Brightman. Musical fail.

And, like 90 % of all girls watching this, I admit I found the Graverobber strangely appealing.

Comments

[fantomfox.livejournal.com]

I'm about to leave the house for work, so I don't have time to make a full comment about Repo, but I wanted to at least tell you that I LOVE that music video you linked to! ♥ Going to have to look up more about that band when I get home. ^^

[tilly-stratford.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! That pleases me inordinately :D

And be sure to share your views on Repo when you have the time.

[bluto-blutarsky.livejournal.com]

Repo...yuck. I thought it would be cool, but got through 15 minutes of it before I'd had enough and turned it off. It just tried way too hard to be whatever the heck it was trying to be. It's a pity really, it had great potential and the idea seemed generally intriguing, but alas it was handled incredibly poorly.

[tilly-stratford.livejournal.com]

That's it - "trying too hard". You can't sit down and decide to make a cult film.

And Rokcy Horror is brilliant (except the bits that aren't).

[bluto-blutarsky.livejournal.com]

And one last thing, Rocky Horror= a bajillion times better than Repo. I think Repo was TRYING to be a cult movie, which is just a recipe for failure.