Alex Cox's punk humour works best when his characters take themselves seriously. We warmly recommend Repo Man for his writing and handling of actors, though its wandering conspiracy plot shows how readily another odd encounter can distract him.
Fi1m perspective
In Repo Man (1984), Harry Dean Stanton's Bud treats car repossession as work deserving solemn respect. Alex Cox writes him with enough conviction that Stanton can play the cynicism without asking us to applaud it. We laughed at Bud's seriousness because the performance never tells us when to find him funny. The character seems settled in his opinion of other people, and Cox knows better than to insist that he become nicer.
Emilio Estevez's Otto Maddox is just as important to a science-fiction comedy fed by Los Angeles punk. His underplaying keeps the attitude from becoming exhausting, particularly when the stranger business begins to compete for attention. Cox gives that quieter performance space alongside Stanton's, without turning Otto into somebody anxious for our approval. It is an assured piece of actor direction, and the everyday work gives both men something more useful to play than eccentricity.
The films that followed took Cox through the punk biopic Sid and Nancy (1986) and the spaghetti Western spoof Straight to Hell (1987), with Joe Strummer and the Pogues. With Walker (1987), his studio period ended. Independent production in Mexico brought El Patrullero (Highway Patrolman) (1992), using long takes and a local cast and crew. His preference for continuous handheld takes and fewer close-ups developed through studying Mexican directors and Rob Tregenza. There is more to his directing than the punk label suggests, particularly in that attention to how long a scene can run without a cut.
His appetite for odd incidents is less dependable. In Repo Man, the conspiracy becomes less interesting than the people earning a living around it, and we sometimes wait for another Stanton or Estevez exchange rather than wonder what happens next. The sour eye for everyday commerce keeps us interested, even when the science fiction does not. Start with Repo Man, particularly if dry workplace comedy sounds more promising than an alien conspiracy.
Biography
Alex Cox is an English film director, screenwriter and actor. Born Alexander B. H. Cox on 15 December 1954 in Bebington, Merseyside, he studied law at Worcester College, Oxford, before transferring to film studies at the University of Bristol. He later attended the University of California, Los Angeles on a Fulbright Scholarship, graduating with an MFA in film.
Cox made his feature directorial debut with Repo Man (1984), which he also wrote. Subsequent films include Sid and Nancy (1986), Walker (1987) and Straight to Hell (1987). He co-wrote the screenplay for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). Since the late 1980s he has worked primarily on independent and micro-budget features. Cox has taught screenwriting and film production at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
