Repo Man (1984) directed by Alex Cox – A Film Review

This bizarre science fiction comedy caper follows our punk rocker protagonist through a number of unusual situations; none of which seem to add up to anything. Repo Man is a mixed bag of fun set pieces that never really add up to a complete story.

On the whole the film looks nice. It’s well shot and the scenes are nicely edited and framed. There’s a nice use of its punk rock soundtrack: with a casual tone about it, it never asserts itself; instead its quietness is simply used to help set the mood.

The actors here also give strong performances: the standouts here being Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton. Estevez plays the punk lead Otto with just the right amount of subtle angst and nonchalance, and Stanton as the grizzled and cynical repo man veteran / mentor, Bud. Yet for me the problem still remains, even with all of the great craft and workmanship of the crew, the film doesn’t seem to add up to much on the whole.

Many other critics have complemented this work on its aesthetic choices. Its punk like style and brashness, its taking chances in its story telling and going off the beaten path. As an audience member it can be quite rewarding when a film goes in an unexpected direction. But what if an entire film was made up of left turns. Would it have direction to it or would we just be going around in narrative circles? I would suggest the latter.

However even though I myself don’t think that the narrative was overall satisfying, I do think that it is important that films like Repo Man are made. Film is a story telling medium. And as such, if the medium continued to rely on the same formulaic model of storytelling over and over again the medium would stagnate, and eventually die. Nevertheless, when we have a film like this that goes against the grain it gets us thinking. It gets us to re-examine the way that stories like this can and should be told. In short, Repo Man makes you think.

This film is far from perfect, and its scatterbrain sense of direction is certainly a turn off for me. Nonetheless, it has a good sense of humour and a tactful level of wit about itself that really helps it stand out. If the director Alex Cox set out to make an original witty Science fiction comedy with an unconventional air and style then I’d say he did so. But for me the film didn’t really work as a whole. However, if you’re looking for a different kind of comedy with an unusual tone to it, then maybe this one’s for you.