Movie Details
| Title: | Repo Man | |
| Director: | Alex Cox | |
| Year: | 1984 | |
| Genre: | Cult | |
| Times Seen: | 2 | |
| Last Seen: | 07.25.24 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 07.25.24 | airplane | We took a trip to the Pacific Northwest. It was great, but I had planned on listening to music and/or reading because the airlines we usually take are dogshit (looking at you American and United). However, this time we booked through Delta and the plane had a decent selection of movies and tv shows in the back of every seat. I figured I'd be remiss if I passed on this opportunity to watch some movies. I was most surprised to see Repo Man on the list. Whoever's in charge of in-flight entertainment gets a solid head-nod from me for putting a movie like Repo Man in the mix. I somewhat recently watched a youtube video showing what the shooting locations looked like today so... why not watch Repo Man!? I can remember the first time I saw this movie. I was somewhere around 10 and had a friend named Danan. My mom liked movies and so I liked them and I remember I'd already seen plenty of stuff. My first theatrical memory is waiting in the lobby for a screening of Temple of Doom hearing the Indy theme blasting over the end credits of the previous screening while we waited. I definitely remember seeing the trailer for Ghostbusters in the theater but I'm not sure if I saw the actual movie as well or if that came via video. But I was certainly watching stuff like Predator and Nightmare on Elm Street by this time. But I remember my friend Danan's mom recommending a rental for a movie night and laying on the floor while the 4 of us watched Repo Man and I did not get it at all. I remember feeling the sense that my mom also didn't get it because Danan's mom was kinda defensive afterward, saying she loved it and thought it was hilarious. As far as I recall, Danan and I just shrugged and went back to comic books or whatever. I'm a little bit older now, more mature, seen it a few more times, and I can now claim that I legit like the movie. Something about that mix of movies I saw back then and places I lived and friends I had all mixed together to make up my current taste in movies and this is now right up my alley. Off kilter, original, filled with spirit, this movie feels in some ways like hanging out with these guys as they ad lib shit driving around downtown LA stealing shots. There's clearly a script, but I think part of what gives the movie its charm is that the story itself is often obfuscated or told indirectly either by budgetary limitations or perhaps filmmaker naivete. Like you see the government agents and the lady with the metal hand and it feels like there's a movie there centered around that stuff but the problem is that we're following Otto instead and Otto's a punk who doesn't give a shit so the alien story is shoved to the periphery. Like there's a scene where they try to appeal to Otto but the scene already happened when we cut to it. All we get to watch is Otto's punk / bandit friends coming in and teasing him and them leaving. The car itself, the film's macguffin, floats in and out of the movie and even when in Otto's possession all he does is lock it up in the repo yard and leave it because he's got a party to go to. I suspect the net effect of this stuff was not planned so much as winding up a happy accident. Movies that try to do this by design mostly feel arduous and overworked to me. This one strikes me as a perfect mix of Slacker-esque wandering independent cinema and Kiss Me Deadly apocalyptic noir. It's a formula that would later be perfected in The Big Lebowski, but works pretty well here too. |
| 11.10.12 | DVR | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2012 If you're a close follower of this festival (read: if you're me), you may know that every year I try and include one movie that I've seen before. For the most part this is a festival of discovery (or in recent years catch-up) but I like to have a safe bet slipped away to pull out at a good time. This year it's Repo Man: a movie I saw once when I was a kid because my friend's mom recommended it. My sole memory is of Emilio Estevez with a flat-top putting a price sticker on some kid's glasses. I also remember that I thought it was really weird and not at all like the other Emilio Estevez movies that I was liking at the time like The Outsiders and Maximum Overdrive. Anyway, we rented it and I watched it with my mom and dad and I remember laying on the carpet feeling the intense burning dislike radiating from behind me. I was afraid to turn around and after it was over I felt like I had to say how weird it was just to agree with them. Truth be told I had no idea what to think about the movie... and I'm about to find out now! Pretty much loved it. Man parts of LA were a shithole back then and probably are even worse now. I feel like not many movies shot these parts of LA back then. It also features what feel like authentic punks. FEAR t-shirts and shared housing and all. But it's not quite reality. All the generic food and drink packaging and the lady with the bionic hand and other small touches makes it seem a little bizarre and out of place. So it's very timely and timeless. For some reason I get a big Western vibe from it too (probably the music but also the sunset/rise shots). The movie IS weird, but it's a really cool kind of weird. Loved the ending. Loved how Harry Dean Stanton would rather die on his feet than live on his knees. Loved how all of a sudden there was a SWAT guy in the hospital room. It's all really great and I'm glad I gave it another watch. Checking imdb, it looks like Alex Cox is still chugging away making movies. I wonder if any of them are any good. It's now Sunday morning and the harsh morning light has washed away my Lost Weekend of gaming and movie-watching. The DVR is almost empty and Molly is back. Things I've learned from spending a couple days in the house alone: I'm a slovenly bastard who leaves trash everywhere like a baby and I rely on societal pressures to brush my teeth. Fortunately, the lady is back and order has been restored. As a little bonus epilogue, Molly watched the last movie on the DVR with me. Something I've had on the DVR for about 10 months. |
