Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Repo! The Genetic Opera

I saw Repo! The Genetic Opera on the weekend. I really enjoyed it.

It's a sci-fi rock opera that's been alternately compared to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sweeney Todd. I loved the visual style of the film, it reminded me of a mix of Sin City and Baz Luhrmann/Moulin Rouge with a healthy dose of Tim Burton thrown in the mix.

The movie takes place in this dystopian future-world and it had this awesome goth/comic book surrealist sensibility. The music is really catchy, most of it is a mix of industrial, punk and metal with some definite classical influences.

There's a fair bit of violence and gore (it's from the same director as the Saw sequels) but it's done in the over-the-top comic book style where it's so violent it's actually kinda funny.

Sarah Brightman is in it. She has a small but memorable role as a character called Blind Mag, an opera singer with these awesome digital eyes. I love how they styled her for the movie, she looks like a Tim Burton wet dream:


Paris Hilton is also in it and I never thought I'd see the day where I'd say I enjoyed watching her in something but she was really well cast in this movie . . . although it wasn't much of an acting challenge.  She plays a spoiled, bratty, talentless air-headed daughter of a wealthy tycoon.  Kudos for the casting director of the film for scoring Paris to play a character which is basically a parody of herself.

It's a pretty limited release but it's definitely worth a look.  Here's the trailer:
 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment