Best Scene: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Night Surgeon
It’s my birthday today! While I know you are grabbing your friends out of glee, sobbing through your happiness about how another year in the presence of my illumination has come and gone. Ok. Ok. So I am stretching a little bit when it comes to my celebrations. I actually am having a quiet affair - very a la Bridget Jones - with a meal with my family and hoping they don’t get food poisoning. Of course, this weekend is going to be a very different affair. But heck, I’m surrounding myself with movies (Mad Max and Pitch Perfect 2), a night out to Soundtracks (a night out with movie music) and a hungover day in the park.
Anyway, I’m getting off topic. So as cinematically centric as I am, for my birthday, I tend to like to write about the films I love. A lot. Unsurprisingly, I took to I’m With Geek to write about Filth for like the twentieth time (someone hire me to write the book, please). So over here, I’d like to explore Repo! The Genetic Opera and speak about its best scene/song - Night Surgeon.
Now for those who don’t know what Repo! The Genetic Opera is, the rock opera spectacular is the over the top yet compellingly brilliant dystopian musical that captured a cult audience who are just begging for it to come back. Anyway, the movie revolves around a future where organ failures are rampant. A synthetic company name GeneCo, run by the ruthless Rotti Largo, have created organs but at a price. And if you cannot pay off your debts, they’ll send over the Repo Man who’ll rip the still beating heart from your chest. Shiloh is a young girl who has been kept away from the world after her mother’s death because of a fatal disease. But her dad Nathan is hiding something sinister and the gory details will come to an explosive head when Rotti Largo hunts her down.
The music on Repo! The Genetic Opera is one of most memorably. Written Darren Lynn Bousman and Terrence Zdunich do well to enthuse the spirit of embellished musical numbers that scintalite, entertain and tell a story. It’s impossible to forget these tunes. Especially Zydrate Anatomy, which is one of the best musical numbers ever conceived and will infect your brain despite showcasing Paris Hilton’s wavering vocal performances. Anyway, as an Opera, it is all showcased here in beautiful songs and ballads that may not hold a candle to Andrew Lloyd Webber but heck, they are so excellent, that the aforementioned musical master’s protégé Sarah Brightman is here, putting in her stellar talent. Particularly in Chase The Morning.
The biggest pivotal story arc throughout this bloody gorgeous film is focused on Anthony Stewart Head’s greatly realised Nathan Wallace. His dirty secret? He is one of the most infamous Repo Men in the unnamed city. Why? Because Rotti Largo murdered his wife and pinned all the guilt on Nathan so the supposed doctor has to murder to ironically clear his debts and wash his hands clean of guilt. The problem is that he has to escape into another persona to commit the atrocious acts. It’s a brilliant dual mind set that Nathan flits between. One a psychopath who relishes in the killings (as heard in Thankless Job) and the other a caring father who is disgusted by what he is doing (explored through Legal Assassin.)
But there is one song that explores both personalities and how they battle against one another and that’s the glorious Night Surgeon. Anthony Stewart Head pleases many an ear (and private part) with his growly and emotional performance. The stunning combination of both the good side and the developing evil entity inside him is evocative, visceral and brilliant. The set up goes that Rotti wants to Nathan to kill Mag, a long life friend of Nathan’s wife Marni. When Nathan refuses, Rotti promptly reminds him that he butchers for a living. Not only that, but there is some part of him that enjoys it. In a stunning display of murder and personality both terrible and excellent, Anthony Stewart Head belts out one of the greatest rock opera ballads ever to grace our screens.