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Talking Pondo: Repo Man and Sisu
Description
In this episode, Marty gives Clif the film Repo Man to watch and Clif gives Marty Sisu to watch.
First up is Repo Man, the 1984 cult classic starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton. When young punk Otto gets pulled into the world of automobile repossession, he discovers that the job comes with it's own strange philosophy, a collection of unforgettable characters and one very unusual Chevy Malibu. Clif and Marty revisit Alex Cox's singular blend of punk-rock attitude, science fiction, deadpan comedy and low-budget ingenuity. They talk about the killer soundtrack, the movie's wonderfully unpredictable structure, it's characters delivering their personal codes for living and the little details that reward repeat viewings. They also discuss why the film has aged so well, how it's punk-rock aesthetic gets so much right (and a few things hilariously wrong) and how a movie that once seemed scattershot can reveal new layers as you get older.
Then it's time for Sisu, the 2022 Finnish action film about a former soldier prospecting for gold in the wilderness at the end of World War II. When a group of Nazis make the mistake of getting between him and his newfound fortune, they discover that they've picked a fight with a man who simply will not stop. What begins as a relatively grounded survival story gradually transforms into something closer to a live-action cartoon, with the violence escalating to video-game boss-level absurdity. The guys debate whether that tonal shift works, admire what the filmmakers accomplished on a modest budget and explore how the movie borrows familiar action and revenge-film conventions while managing to make them feel like its own.
Along the way: the Circle Jerks, the brilliance of “Pablo Picasso Was Never Called an Asshole,” Harry Dean Stanton, the mysterious rules of the Repo Man universe and the art of cinematic violence.
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