 Repo Man (1984) My coolest friends have always tried to turn me on to this movie, and I have watched it numerous times, but I still can't figure out what I'm supposed to "get." All I see, time and time again, is a disjointed mess with the feel of a giant inside joke. "It's a cult classic!," say some. "It's totally punk!," say others. "It's satirical!," say still others. Damned if I can see any of this. Should I like it because the Circle Jerks make a clever cameo appearance? Because Harry Dean Stanton gives a hilariously insular performance? Because it shows cocaine use? Because the feel of it is cool? Because the look of it is cool? Because it has a cool soundtrack? Because it depicts the seedy world of repo men and has a major plot vaguely about aliens? Because the ending utilizes the coolest possible trick, which is to simply have a couple of people hop into a car and suddenly fly into outer space? Damned if I know. I even scoured the DVD commentary track and only found more people laughing outrageously at every "clever" bit, and found myself totally stumped. Maybe I need to do more drugs. Or maybe Repo Man is, in fact, a disjointed mess. I always enjoy watching it, but after 20 years spent trying to "get" it, I'm throwing in the towel. I hereby offer $50,000 to anyone who can concretely articulate what the hell it is that makes this movie so fuckin' fantastic. Bear in mind I'm already more than $1.2 million in debt.
Review by La Fée |
