Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

I was first exposed to this movie when I was 18 or 19 and a friend happened to pop it in while we were hanging out. I can safely say that this movie changed my life. If you hate musicals, like myself, then this is the musical for you. So creative and so original. This is one of the movies I watch pretty frequently and will always share with others.The best way I can describe this movie is: The life and love of a trans-gendered, German, punk-rock star that tries to become famous.If you're thinking about watching this movie, just do it. You won't regret it.

Plot: Hedwig, an kid from the RFA with some gender issues, finds only one way to escape from his country. Sex-change surgery, marry an American soldier and then grab his mother passport to get the hell out of there. Now in the USA, we will witness her story: girl meets boy, boy steals her songs to become a rock star...all of it through a great musical, or better said a "musiglam". Ludicrous, is it not? John Cameron Mitchell adapts his own Off-Broadway play into the big screen, directs and stars as Hedwig, in a movie full of colors, light and music. A film that became an instant classic, a cult low budget movie, and a reference in indie filmmaking at the beginning of this century. Stephen Trask plays the role of guitar player in Hedwig's band, and he is responsible for the whole soundtrack, a track list as solid as touching; what a perfect music for such a story.I remember watching this film around 2002 or 2003 in a nearby cinema, a "Glam Night", films like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (Jim Sharman, 1975), "Velvet Goldmine" (Todd Haynes, 1998) or this very film. I am not a fan of musicals, they seem to me a bit absurd, but when I watched this, I thought: "well, if it's excessive, it better be ridiculously excessive". And so it was, but not only that, it is a great film, a touching story and a wonderful soundtrack. Meet Hedwig, it is impossible not to enjoy her story.

I thought the music in this film was not bad-maybe a bit 'draggy' at times (pardon the pun)- but as the film draws to an end the true nature-the true not Transgender nature of the person playing the lead comes out. Ooops. I was hoping it would actually have been a Transgender person-but rather it was an actor playing a Transgender person-albeit effectively-but in this day an age if you want to represent an Asian person in a movie for example you don't use facial prosthetics on a Caucasian actor's eyes-you hire an Asian actor. David Bowie's involvement in the play this movie was based on makes it noteworthy in the minds of fans of David Bowie. There is Bowiesque music in it but I am hearing more Lou Reed aka CBGB's NYC punk circa 1970-which isn't bad-but again-it isn't actually rock tunes written by a Transgender musician. In a way I think this film defines the worst kind of scam-in another way its just good harmless fun. A drag queen called Jinx Monsoon or something close to that seemed to have been the only person with an 'alternate sexuality' involved with this play at any level at any venue & it has played at a few. One of the musicians in the band appeared to be a 'drag king' but other than that there was nobody else 'different.' I wondered if it was based on someone real but if it was that was never mentioned-or I missed it. Cute film-but it was what it was, so I just gave it a five. Some of the dialogue was...thoughtful-but it didn't come from a ...you get the picture.

A rock musical in the style of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this film is about a German boy that falls in love with an American and wants to go to America with him. We see it all in flashback as she is touring the U.S.Of course, he can't without getting a sex-change operation. Hansel becomes Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell) in a botched operation that leaves a little too much behind, and soon finds herself abandoned in a Kansas trailer park. She turns tricks at a nearby military base, becomes a baby-sitter for the general, and meets the general's son, Tommy Gnossis (Michael Pitt). They're lovers, until Tommy discovers the secret of Hedwig's transsexualism and abandons her.John Cameron Mitchell gives a great Glam-Rock performance in a loud and flashy movie that has a lot underneath. Great soundtrack.