There is a common phrase that is taught to children. It goes something like the following: "When you make a mistake, let go of the regret but don't forget the lesson". This adage gives children an opportunity to grow and mature. Unfortunately, the mistake of watching Repo! A genetic opera (2008) offers no such lesson and the regret is indelible. To summarize, Repo! A genetic opera is a musical set in a dystopian future where a world wide medical disaster has rendered humanity unable to live as they once could. Organs are failing and people are dying. Out of the filth of this mid-21st century world comes Genco; a company that will provide medical salvation, for a price. Organs are sold as high value items that are out of the financial range of many of the ailing population. The sick elect to be implanted with Genco organs, but if they default on their payments, they are repossessed by hired muscle. This is a blatant euphemism: the organs are ripped violently from conscious victims who writhe and squirm until they die in anguish, covered in their own blood and gore and are left to rot in the streets. Over the course of the movie, the politics involved in this world are explored and the resolution is the transfer of power from the terminally ill founder of Genco to his irresponsible and undeserving children. There also is the death of a obsessive father, who turns out to be the Repo-man, the continued entrapment of a teenage girl, and lots of time exploring the convoluted world of sex, blood, and bad music.
After the introductory world-building, the dialogue between the characters begin. The majority of the verbal exchange is given through a quasi-musical overlay of half-sung world on a constant barrage of mediocre rock music. In the brief moments when the music stops and the words are simply spoken, the movie is enjoyable.
There are many examples of fine musicals that are in film form. Roger's and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, and the King and I are critically acclaimed and grace any film collection. The songs in these movies have a palatable structure of chorus, verse, and refrain. By contrast, the music in Repo! A genetic opera, shifts from phrase to phrase without continuity or structure. Conventional musicals have a mix of spoken dialogue and music and the pace and overall timbre of a song may change according to the scene. Refrains are worked into individual songs to tie the movie together.
This is not the case in Repo! A genetic opera. The music and the quasi-dialogue are in competition. The rhythm of the words does not follow any pattern and is painfully devoid of rhyme or couplet elements. A song may be going along in standard time with moderate tempo, which is often the case in rock music, and then it will abruptly jump into an non-traditional time signature with odd syncopation. While this device can be interpreted as an attempt to jar the viewer to emphasize an emotion, action, or other film element, what is often the case is detrimental to the film.
The time signature and pattern of the phrasing change so frequently that the music approaches an uncomfortable high-contrast, super-saturated state with so many conventional musical phrases being followed by so many strange musical devices. This process of hot then cold then hot then cold just ends up numbing the ears. Again, when the music stops, the film is tolerable at best. Aside from the die hard cult followers who enjoy the musical psychosis of the likes of Rocky Horror Picture Show and Rent, Repo! A genetic opera will unlikely be remembered for its good music.
When time is taken to arrange the objects in the frame a useful method of communication can be used to further the quality of a film. Using the properties of size, location, position, and other visual aspects, film directors can convey unspoken information about the scene or the characters that appeal to the viewers' subconscious sense of non-verbal communication. Joining the thoughtlessness presented by the music, very little substance can be gleaned from the composition of the scenes in Repo! A genetic opera.
Low angle shots are given to impose upon the viewer a sense of foreboding. These primarily are given in the shots showing the computer animated renditions of the skyline circa 2057. Aside from that, the film presents little variety in frame composition, so much so that a similarity can be drawn to stage operas and musicals. The sets are simple and very focused on a small physical space, often a room, graveyard, or alleyway. The scenes are noticeable as theatrical sets, with the same limitations imposed on theater being expressed in the physical spaces presented in Repo! a genetic opera.
The camera work that is used is cliche. As the father is dying, he is positioned towards the bottom of the frame languishing is is own blood, while the daughter expresses her sadness. The kingpin of Genco, a character of impotent power, is positioned sitting behind a desk; an attempt to show that his medical empire is a barrier from harm and symbol of power. Simply stated, what is presented in Repo! a genetic opera has been seen before and lacks creativity and freshness.
On the part of the director whose work includes the Saw franchise, many elements are directly repeated which forces one to arrive draws at two plausible conclusions. The first one is that Darren Lynn Bousman, has elements that he uses in his films as a trademark or intentionally recognizable signature. If this is true, then he is not the first director to do so, as it is common place for directors to do that. The second conclusion is that little creative effort was put in place to design the look and feel of the film.
One example of a repetitive element are panning shots with a focus on loud speakers with a disembodied voice issuing commands in a gravely or distorted voice. A second overused element is a basement or industrial setting with a bound individual who is struggling in a dentists chair. These repeated devices get old, especially when knowledge of the Bousman's other works is known. Additionally, it is disappointing to see these here, given the obvious unconventional nature of Repo! A genetic opera. It would be normally safe to expect, new and original elements to be worked into the film.
Repo! A genetic opera offers little in terms of quality and critical substance and is mostly concerned with a shock treatment of the audience through an over-use of special effects and gore. Films like these are not widely known and condemned to cult followers for these reasons and the reasons above.
Repo! A genetic opera receives a negative review.
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