Repo! The Genetic Opera

Review

Oh Repo! how I love thee. This movie is terrible, there's no denying that but the sheer joy this movie instills in me means that it deserves a 10. Repo! is a dark, cybergoth musical about a dystopian future where people are addicted to surgeries and take out loans to afford new organs, but if those debts go unpaid the Repo men come to collect, in blood.

This movie follows a young girl, Shilo, who lives in this world but is unable to go outside due to a blood disease that she inherited from her mother. Her father takes care of her by working as a doctor but that's just a cover since he works as a Repo Man. Elsewhere in the world, the owner of GeneCo, the corporation which runs the world, is dying of cancer and has to decide which of his three children will inherit the company, but he considers all of them to be failures. When he becomes aware of Shilo's existance he is reminded of the relationship he used to have with her mother and decides that she will be his heir. The movie ends with the Genetic Opera occuring where Shilo's father is revealed to the a repo man, Rotti Largo, the owner, dies, and Shilo denies her inheritance stating that she is not a killer and walking off into the distance.

Like I mentioned this movie is a musical but make no mistake, the music is not great. My three favorite songs are Night Surgeon, Zydrate Anatomy and Chromagggia. Some others I like are 21st Century Cure and We Started this Op'ra Shit but all of the rest range from meh to downright unlistenable. I think someone could torture a good bit of information out of me by playing Seventeen over and over again. Terrance Zdunich (The Graverobber) and Sarah Brightman (Blind Mag) are easily the best singers in the cast and the rest of the cast just tries their best.

The leads in this movie are not my favorite but the Largo family is really the shining crown of this movie. I am literally obsessed with Amber Sweet and Pavi Largo. They are both so cool, like the fact that Amber's face falls off at the Genetic Opera and then Pavi buys it on auction to wear it is hilarious. Shilo, the main character is fine but I'm more attracted to the world she's in and the people around her than I am to her, same with her father, the repo man.

After watching this movie about 20 times, I finally realized that there is an actual message in this movie which is that your genetics do not define you. Shilo starts off the movie thinking that her genetics have infected her and that her life path has been determined by her genetics/disease. In the end of the movie she's told that being a killer is in her genetics because her father is a killer and she rejects this idea stating that she is in fact not determined by her genetics and it's her choice whether or not she wants to kill. I think this is a fine enough message except for the fact that in the beginning part of being defined by her genetics is that she has a chronic blood disease but in the end it's revealed to be fake and so she's no longer defined by it which is just not how it works for a lot of chronically ill or disabled people. But what am I talking about? This is not a movie you watch to appreciate a heartfelt message, you watch this for the SPECTACLE!!!

The aesthetic of this movie is so good and just perfectly encapsulates anything I could want from a movie like this. I'm still reeling from the fact that Amber Sweet's costumes were all just pieces from Paris Hilton's closet, like why did she casually have all of that, I mean I guess she's Paris Hilton but whatever. If you need any more encouragement to watch this movie, just watch the Chromaggia scene, however do be warned that it does contain a character death so spoilers if you care.