When I first saw the preview for Repo Men, I thought that the premise was bit too similar to Repo! The Genetic Opera (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2008), a film that was based on a play of the same name. Furthermore, I was a bit stunned to learn that the Repo Men is apparetly an adaptation of Eric Garcia's The Repossession Mambo, a novel released in 2009. I wonder if Garcia may have based his story on Bousman's film and/or the play. Does all of that seem a bit confusing? If I have managed to at least get your mind running in something akin to a circle, then you are on your way to understanding how a film like Repo Men works.
Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) are childhood friends and work as partners for a company called The Union, which specializes in providing synthetic organs (called "artiforgs") to those in need at astronomical prices. However, the price tag does little to hinder folks from virtually signing their own death warrant, thanks predominately to the salesman pitch of Frank (Liev Shrieber), who seems to relish in telling his clients that "You owe it to yourself; you owe it your family," assuring them that there are several payment plans available to accommodate any lifestyle. Still, it is virtually inevitable that those who purchase artiforgs will fall behind on their payments, and after a few months of leeway, Remy and Jake are among the Repo Men sent by The Union to repossess them, which typically results in the client's death.
Remy is pretty much the best at what he does, which is a cause for concern within The Union when he decides (in part due to the fact that his wife will likely leave him otherwise) that he does not particularly care to continue his line of work, preferring instead to work in sales. Then, ironically enough, while carrying out his final repo, Remy finds himself in need of an artificial heart thanks to his equipment malfunctioning. So, his wife leaves him (taking their son with her), and now that he has become one of the very individuals he has spent his career hunting down, Remy finds that he can no longer stomach his work. Since he refuses to work, he makes no money, and quickly falls behind on his payments. Eventually, the film turns into both an action flick and a love story as Remy must evade his former co-workers that are now tracking him down, but not without the help of the lovely Beth (Alice Braga), who is more artificial than human thanks to the double-digit number of artiforgs keeping her alive.
Even though there are some scenes of gore, a bit of action here and there, and a romantic interest that comes in to play in the second half of the film, Repo Men is a dark comedy at heart. At most times, it is cleverly satirical, especially in the first and third acts. There are two key twists that occur in the last act, one of which is predictable to some degree, and another that caught me almost completely by surprise. The latter of these two, when reflecting on the film during the credits, was something I came to admire due its function as a proper explanation for the utterly bizarre (and somewhat incoherent) nature of what transpires in the last thirty minutes. I had a lot of questions during that time, and one simple revelation answered all of them while simultaneously accentuating the sardonic aspects of the film. Some viewers might be turned off by it, but I thought it was fitting, especially for a film laden with twisted humor. Repo Men deals with a particular something (it would be cruel of me to spoil it) that, in my experience, is rarely seen in film, and even more of a rarity is to see it executed effectively, as I believe it is here.
B
No comments:
Post a Comment