Rating: 
Summary: Searching for your other half.
Review: Not since Tommy (1975) have I seen such the rock and roll (or perhaps Punk and Roll) drama. John Cameron Mitchell plays Hedwig (Head-vig) who lives in East Berlin before the wall fell. In order to get out of Berlin he is talked into a gender changing operation so that he can marry a military man and move to the US. Needless to say the operation goes awry and the Berlin wall falls shortly after he leaves. As if it could get no worse the music that he writes and performs is stolen by his protege Tommy Gnosis who becomes rich and famous. Hedwig and his band (The Angry Inch -- see operation) shadow Gnosis at all his gigs trying to get back the recognition they deserve. The comedic moments are filled with slight bitter afterbite as Hedwig searches desperately for his other half. He finds that when he strips everything down to the very core that he has truly found his other half and no amount of lovers, fame, fortune, and Farrah Fawcett wings will make any difference. The music was excellent so if you don't catch the movie you should find the web site and grab the MP3's. The best song "Origin of Love" is sadly not there. I rented this movie on VHS but I'd recommend it in letterbox on DVD. Blockbuster is the only video store I know that has it in that format.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Tear Her Down! A Wickedly Brilliant Film!
Review: Wow!"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" explodes from its opening scene and never stops! Wondefully written and performed, it is a work of art that trancends color, culture or gender.
I first saw John Cameron Mitchell on broadway in the musical "The Secret Garden". I loved his work then, but never could've imagined that he would later emerge as the powerhouse that is Hedwig. She is unforgettable!
Part Scarlet O'Hara and part Terminator, Hedwig is a heroine (or hero) for the new millenium. John Cameron Mitchell plays her so flawlessly and furiously that soon we forget him and she becomes so real that when the movie ends we're left a bit sad that she was indeed a character. If Mr. Mitchell is not nominated for a best-actor Oscar/Golden Globe for this role (and wins), there is no justice. Although the film is not a #1 box office hit, I am hoping that he will get it on buzz alone, which was what got Hilary Swank her VERY deserved awards for "Boys Don't Cry".
The film's script is incredibly original and fresh. It also features clever symbolism. And it's real symbolism, you know the one audiences can actually follow. Not the kind that people tout as "brilliant" simply because they don't want to say "Huh? I didn't get it." The whole East and West Berlin as a metaphor for Hedwig's search for her missing half is great.
And then of course, there's the music. Wow, the music! No soundtrack has rocked with more honesty since Prince's "Purple Rain" or Bette Midler's "The Rose". The lyrics are phenomenal as is the music, both by Stephen Trask. The songs are electric, sincere and humorous. Some of my favorites include; "Tear Me Down", "Wig in a Box", "Sugar Daddy" and "Midnight Radio". Mr. Trask deserves to be accepting some awards in this category since no movie this year has featured better music.
So ignore any comparisons to "Rocky Horror" or "Pricilla", while well intended,this work sands firmly on its own. It is unlike any other. Unique, brave, bold and extremely beautiful, Hedwig is a winner! Now I wonder if John Cameron Mitchell will release further recordings by Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I hope so.
Rating:
Summary: More than I expected
Review: When I first saw this I was told it was just like Rocky Horror, and hearing this from people equally obsessed wtih Rocky Horror, i knew it had to be true. But no! They lied! This is even BETTER than rocky horror. Not only is the music great and fun and hysterical, but the story actually has purpose too, I even caught myself crying a few times. Mostly laughing though... this is definitely one of my new favorites, you definitely want to see this
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Adapted from the hit off-Broadway musical of the same name is this tale of an "internationally ignored" rock & roll singer who hails from Communist Berlin and who dreams of becoming an American sensation. Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell), born a boy named Hansel, is raised by a single mother (Alberta Watson) who wishes to see her son do better than his poverty-stricken family. Some years later, Hansel is attracted to a good-looking American G.I, who promises a better life overseas for young Hansel, under one condition: that he undergo a sex-change operation to become a fully functional female who he can then marry. The operation is seriously botched, leaving the now-renamed Hedwig with an "angry inch" only to be stranded in a dingy Kansas trailer park on the day the Berlin Wall comes tumbling down. Hedwig then supports herself through a series of ill-fated lounge gigs and side jobs, meeting up with 16-year old Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt), a religious type who befriends her and later steals her songs and becomes the rock star Hedwig always dreamed of being. Undeterred, Hedwig continues to perform in the shadow of Tommy's sold-out stadium tour, attempting to make herself whole in spirit, if not physically. The film features several songs by composer Stephen Trask, who also appears as a member of Hedwig's disinterested rock band; Miriam Shor portrays Hedwig's newfound love and back-up singer.
A mixed-bag effort to translate John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's ambitious rock musical to the screen, this remains a worthwhile movie experience on any account, successfully opening up its heartfelt, often sad account of an "internationally ignored" rock singer suffering from a botched sex change operation. Mitchell's fierce, hypnotic performance is as indelible on film as it was on stage - fearful, hilarious and moving. His direction is a bit less remarkable, as the movie offers much to look at, but little of it comes through in quite the same way as the music. The filmmakers too often literalize what should be expressed musically, which robs the viewer of some of the discoveries that might have made the film more successful. A few stretches sag as well, but the movie springs to life the most in its final reel - when the title character takes on a young protégé (a quietly effective Michael Pitt) - even if it fails to fully reach its emotional mark. Audiences at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival clearly found Hedwig refreshing: it won the Audience Award as well as a Grand Jury directing prize for Mitchell.
Rating: 
Summary: Glitter, tears and tart laughs.
Review: Had 'this is Spinal Tap' been concerned with people whose fates and inner lives we could identify with, we might have seen how material that makes us laugh uncontrollably could quickly become tragic. And 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' - the story of the transsexual leader of a 70s-style glam rock band, playing to restaurant audiences of single figures or less as she stalks the stadium rocker ex-lover who stole her songs; whose love life is a rondelay of promise, ecstasy, betrayal and rejection; whose dismal career forces her into prostitution - constantly teeters on the brink of the tragic. that it doesn't (quite) is largely due to the combusitble energy of the film, the inherent buoyancy of the musical genre, and the sympathy generated by John Cameron Mitchell's engaging performance, a classic queen's mixture of bravura and tears. I say 'combustible' energy, because the film doesn't really have a plot, but moves like it does, and so threatens to expend itself - this can maim the emotional crescendos it strives for. 'Hedwig' was originally a stage musical, and the film works best as a kind of revue, with Hedwig on stage 'performing' and elucidating her life-story, illustrated by stylised, amusing, poignant flashbacks (the best being a candy-glutted sexual awakening at the hands of a huge Barry White-voiced American G.I.). the film mixes the musical, cabaret, the rites-of-passage, the (small-scale) show-biz satire and romantic comedy, with animation and collage, and the overall theme concerns unity and separation - Hedwig's anxieties about gender and sexual belonging; her origin as the son of an American soldier and East German communist, and how this relates to Cold-War Germany and the collapse of the Berlin Wall; the links between her life and work, her public persona and private emotions, the paradox that she finds her greatest emotional articulacy and authenticity caked in make-up, fright-wig and glittering clothes. while I would rather leap over sleeping alligators than listen to them in 'real' life, the songs, kind of Iggy/Ziggy/Velvets/New York Dolls rewritten by Jim Steinman, are hugely exciting, the audience even invited to sing along at one point (mine didn't), doing what songs in musicals should do - make the ordinary seem extraordinary, and give voice to the unspoken. As well, in this case, as provoke and confront.
Rating:
Summary: Just brilliant!
Review: First of all, thanks to the bloggers at fametracker.com for introducing me to this movie. It has never been released in NZ (for shame!) and I am so glad I checked it out. However, it is definitely one of those films you have to watch more than once. I was at first somewhat mystified by the last 20 mins, but now I find them the most moving and satisfying section of the film. HEDWIG just gets better and better the more you watch it, and the music is just fantastic. The DVD is one of the best packages ever - the documentary is fascinating. A total masterpiece that everyone needs to own.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie
Review: The photography, the music, the story... Loved it and recommend it to everyone, straight/ gay/ it doesnt matter.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Tear Her Down! A Wickedly Brilliant Film!
Review: Wow!"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" explodes from its opening scene and never stops! Wondefully written and performed, it is a work of art that trancends color, culture or gender.
I first saw John Cameron Mitchell on broadway in the musical "The Secret Garden". I loved his work then, but never could've imagined that he would later emerge as the powerhouse that is Hedwig. She is unforgettable!
Part Scarlet O'Hara and part Terminator, Hedwig is a heroine (or hero) for the new millenium. John Cameron Mitchell plays her so flawlessly and furiously that soon we forget him and she becomes so real that when the movie ends we're left a bit sad that she was indeed a character. If Mr. Mitchell is not nominated for a best-actor Oscar/Golden Globe for this role (and wins), there is no justice. Although the film is not a #1 box office hit, I am hoping that he will get it on buzz alone, which was what got Hilary Swank her VERY deserved awards for "Boys Don't Cry".
The film's script is incredibly original and fresh. It also features clever symbolism. And it's real symbolism, you know the one audiences can actually follow. Not the kind that people tout as "brilliant" simply because they don't want to say "Huh? I didn't get it." The whole East and West Berlin as a metaphor for Hedwig's search for her missing half is great.
And then of course, there's the music. Wow, the music! No soundtrack has rocked with more honesty since Prince's "Purple Rain" or Bette Midler's "The Rose". The lyrics are phenomenal as is the music, both by Stephen Trask. The songs are electric, sincere and humorous. Some of my favorites include; "Tear Me Down", "Wig in a Box", "Sugar Daddy" and "Midnight Radio". Mr. Trask deserves to be accepting some awards in this category since no movie this year has featured better music.
So ignore any comparisons to "Rocky Horror" or "Pricilla", while well intended,this work sands firmly on its own. It is unlike any other. Unique, brave, bold and extremely beautiful, Hedwig is a winner! Now I wonder if John Cameron Mitchell will release further recordings by Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Can't get it out of my head!!!
Review: This is a surprizingly brilliant film with great original music that will get stuck in your head and have you glad you bought it so you can sing along. The depth of the characters is amazing considering the subject matter, and the actors themselves are very underrated, they're all superb! Mitchell is able to make a loveable, enchanting, and yet meaningful piece that is extraordinarily funny as well. A+++++++++++!
Rating:
Summary: sweet
Review: let me tell u what. this is the rocky horror picture show on acid. in other words its sweet like no other. watch the movie. in fact buy it. after the first few times watching it u be singing along because the music rock in the movie too.
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