Almost the eponymous punk movie of the early 80s, Alex Cox's look at non-conformity and life in Southern California is a real piece of work. Rented it from netflix a couple years ago (regretted not blind-buying Anchor Bay's OOP collectors edition tin when it first came out a few years back), and the new Blu-Ray special edition from the Criterion Collection is a gorgeous release.
While this works as the first major starring vehicle for Emilio Estevez as we follow his character Otto arounds the back alleys and empty lots of LA, he's really the audience's surrogate for an increasing number of bizarre interactions with strange characters and cool cars, weaving a web of random occurrences into a coherent climax. The life of a repo man is intense! Who thought it would be that much trouble to repossess a '64 Chevy Malibu driven by an insane scientist from Roswell? And who the heck is offering $20 grand for it?
Working on a tight budget, director Alex Cox makes some interesting stylistic choices, including a complete lack of product placement with every single food or commercial product in the movie (excepting the cars) a generic blue on white package. From "Beer" to "Food: Meat Flavor". The punk aspect is brought out not only by the various characters (including Otto's former buddies turned anarchist criminals - "Yeah. Yeah. Let's go get sushi... and NOT PAY!!!!!" and his former co-worker Kevin - Circle Jerks bassist Zander Schloss) but also by the excellent soundtrack - title track by Iggy Pop.
It's funny, it's weird, it's cool.
EDIT - and somehow I forgot to include the trailer last night:
Criterion's Blu Ray presentation is amazing. I mean aside from the awesome packaging, it's loaded with special features - including a director commentary I still need to check out. A number of written features are also included as hard copy "zine" included with the disc - very 80s.
You're limited to a mono mix on the audio, but the video is really something else for an early 80's indie flick.
Highly recommended!
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