Since Barnes and Noble are going to do their Criterion Collection sale next month and I'm still undecided of what movie to add to my collection from the choices, I thought that while I do so, I should discuss some of my favorite movies that are in said collection, although this might be small for a while as I have not seen that many of them. I guess the easiest way I could start this is to talk about one of my favorite movies which was also the first movie in the collection that I bought, and that movie is the 1984 Alex Cox film Repo Man.
There is no real easy way to describe this movie at all, so maybe I'll just try and do the basic elements of the film so that I can try and explain why I love this movie so much. As the titles states, the movie does focus on a man who repossesses cars named Otto, who in the beginning of the film is kind of the stereotypical 80's punk kid who quits his dead end job at a supermarket in quite the rebellious fashion and that attitude kind of changes yet remains the same throughout the film. It's by pretty much accident that he ends up becoming a repo man, as he just runs into Bud, his future mentor on the job, one day when being asked to move a car for him. For the rest of the film, the story goes through a lot of tangents, whether it's following the mysterious Chevy Malibu which may or may not contain aliens in the trunk, a bunch of people chasing the car for different reasons, either for the money or research, and just following random repossessions.
Another thing that makes this movie really enjoyable is that is has one of the best soundtracks of the 80's, mostly being filled with some of the deeper punk tracks of the time. The opening track, which could also be considered the theme of the movie itself, is rather fun with it's main riff kind of mimicking the doldrums of making a living by way of driving cars, cruising through LA looking for the next opportunity to score some cash. The rest of the soundtrack has some wonderful tracks such as Black Flag's TV Party, Fear's Lets Have a War, a couple of Circle Jerks songs (who are in the movie as a lounge band performing When The Shit Hits The Fan) yet the most prominent band in the soundtrack is The Plugz, who also were behind the score of the film. With the way the film is, it's easy to see how well the soundtrack itself fits the aesthetic quite well and is rather easy to appreciate.
I could go on forever about everything that goes on with the movie and what makes it so good but that would take too long. A lot of the characters in the movie are really fun, with one of the more enjoyable ones being Miller, a man who works for the same place as Bud and Otto, but is easy to tell that he isn't quite a regular person. He could often be seen as the philosopher of the group, yet it's unsure whether or not anything he says are actual thoughts or just him being crazy and unhinged.
So, a brief moment to talk about one of my favorite movies that is also part of the Criterion Collection, and I would recommend to anyone that has an inkling of an interest to watch it to go do so immediately. I forgot to mention how quotable the film is, a tribute to how well it was written especially for such a low budget film. Again, if you haven't watched Repo Man yet, just watch it already.
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