Rating: 
Summary: A must-see film, sure to be a cult hit
Review: I just got to see this film as part of a film festival, prior to its national release, and it is fantastic! Like both "Rocky Horror" and "Tommy," it is filled with over-the-top excess, great original rock songs, and interesting characters--esp. Hedwig/Handel her/himself. We learn about Hedwig, a refugee from the former East Berlin, via a series of flashbacks, often during performances of Hedwig's "internationally unknown" band, The Angry Inch, as it continues its national tour of low-rent seafood restaurants, always near where famous rock star Tommy Gnosis is playing (but don't say she is stalking him, even if he did steal all her songs and broke her heart). The ending is unexpected yet satisfying, as Hedwig comes to understand the origin of love. Filled with witty dialogue, biting song lyrics (including new songs just for the film), and unique visual imagery, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is a must-see tour-de-force that already has a cult following (thanks to the success of the off-Broadway show and the success of the film at Sundance). I can't wait to get the soundtrack, and eventually the video/DVD!
Rating:
Summary: best since the Rocky Horror Picture Show!
Review: Hey Guys, See this ! I was able to see its premiere at berlin film festival in February, and great it was ! The little boy who had to grow up in eastern berlin (his mother having th coolest american accent a german mother can have), had to play in the stove and was finally transformed into an almost-woman turns out to become the wildest popstar ever...this movie, based on the musical being on stage for years now (and being written by the director and main actor of this film) does not at all have to hide beside cult items like the "rocky horror picture show" or "priscilla, queen of the desert" - this film is cult even before it started ! Great (and surprisingly good and rocky!) music, ultimate show pieces (or however you might call it) and a totally cool story do its part, but the actors make it really big - so, go, watch ist and have a 90 minute laugh! (Hey, sorry for my english being so bad - but be sure my taste is all right !)
Rating:
Summary: Best since rocky horror picture show !
Review: Hey Guys, See this ! I was able to see its premiere at berlin film festival in February, and great it was ! The little boy who had to grow up in eastern berlin (his mother having th coolest american accent a german mother can have), had to play in the stove and was finally transformed into an almost-woman turns out to become the wildest popstar ever...this movie, based on the musical being on stage for years now (and being written by the director and main actor of this film) does not at all have to hide beside cult items like the "rocky horror picture show" or "priscilla, queen of the desert" without - this film is cult even before it started ! Great (and surprisingly good and rocky!) music, ultimate show pieces (or however you might call it) and a totally cool story do its part, but the actors make it really big - so, go, watch ist and have a 90 minute laugh! (Hey, sorry for my english being so bad - but be sure my taste is all right !)
Rating:
Summary: Easily the second-best film of 2001...
Review: "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" bursts onto the screen with a ferocity and rock-and-roll energy not seen since the great rock operas of the 1970s. Not only can it claim to have taken "Rocky Horror"'s crown as the best cult musical of all time, but it's also one of the best musicals ever put on film. It is second only to another movie musical that was released this year, "Moulin Rouge." What do these two films have in common? They are both rock operas about people trying to find love. And that is where the similarity ends. How fitting that in the year 2001, the movie musical genre, which many have considered dead for the past 20 years, can be revitalized and reenergized and deconstructed by these two brilliant productions. "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is, ostensibly, the story of a gay man, growing up in East Berlin in the days before the Wall fell, who reluctantly agrees to have a sex change operation, so that he can marry an American G.I., and leave for America. Unfortunately, the operation is done incorrectly, leaving Hansel, now Hedwig, with a one-inch mound of flesh where his male member once was. As if that was not enough bad luck for her, her new husband, soon after bringing her to America, leaves her for another man. Hedwig is left high and dry, the very week that the Berlin Wall is torn down. "Good things come to those who wait," says the television announcer. This inspires Hedwig to go on a journey of self-discovery; to discover her other half, her soulmate--but is it a man or a woman? And where does she fit in, in the grand scheme of things? Is she meant to be a male, as she was born, or a female, as she became? That is when we, the audience, realize that this is not merely a simple story of a down-on-her-luck drag queen trying to make it in the Big World. This is a film about the search for the Platonic ideal, blending the mythic and mundane into a fascinating exploration of what it means to be complete. Is Hedwig's mother right in saying, "To be free, one must give up a little part of oneself"? Or is Hedwig's lover, Tommy Gnosis, when he tells her that "there's no mystical design/no cosmic lover preassigned"? The film uses the Berlin Wall as a symbol of the division between two soulmates. Hedwig believes that no one is complete until he or she has found his soulmate. Once they are reunited, one has finally found oneself. Like Berlin finally reunited, Hedwig longs for that herself. "Hedwig" plays like a cross between a documentary-style film a la "This is Spinal Tap," an MGM movie musical, an episode of "Behind the Music" (including tabloid covers and a clip of Hedwig on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show"), and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." But it is so much more than that, based mostly on (1) its use of complex symbolism and mythical allusions and (2) the brilliant, heartfelt, funny, and sad performance of John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote, directed, and starred in both the original off-Broadway production of "Hedwig" and this film. The man is a creative genius and should receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination. And what of the music? Simply brilliant, as well. "Hedwig" boasts, bar none, one of the best rock opera score of all time, except for, perhaps, "Rent." The music is raw energy incarnate. The melodies are amazingly tuneful, and range from hardcore punk to rock n' roll, to folksy, to soft, but never overly sappy, ballads. The lyrics are a revelation: more mature, nuanced, and finely tuned than any songs you are likely to hear in any other Broadway or rock venue. And, yes, contain a great deal of mythical, literary, and even biblical allusions. The musical numbers are staged brilliantly, particularly "Wig in a Box," my favorite song in the film. A grungy trailer opens up and transforms itself into a beautiful, shiny, brightly colored stage for a great rock number. It's flights of fancy like this that make "Hedwig" so much fun. The film also contains amazing work from its supporting cast, including Miriam Shor, playing Hedwig's husband, and Andrea Martin, playing Hedwig's publicist. If you are looking for a rock musical that really rocks, but also has a very complex, multilayered, thought-provoking story under its shiny, glitzy veneer, look no further than "Hedwig." And you might want to consider buying the soundtrack, as well. The songs are impossible to get out of your head, but in a good way. And I didn't even get to mention how hilariously funny the film is, as well. You will laugh long and hard; you will find yourself singing along to the music; and yes, you'll also find yourself extremely touched.
Rating:
Summary: Ladies and Gentlmen the best movie you'll ever see
Review: To say the least i am a fag hag, thus, i love musicals and anything remotely gay. albeit i am neither a boy nor a gay boy but rather a female whose only form of male friends are queer, gay, fagets etc. and i have to say this is one of my favorite movies of all times when i first viewed this movie i couldn't believe it i thought "yes, i'm not a freak someone took two of my favorite things Rock and Roll and Transexuals and rolled it into one great movie" and not only did i completely fall in love with the movie the directer, writer and star of the movie but also the soundtrack which by the way you the soon to be viewer should definetly get because its the best. Hedwig or Hansel as that was his name before his transformation or rather confusion, he and his mother lived in a cramped apartment in Communist Berlin, before the wall came down that is, They were left by his American GI father and it was just his mother and him. THe apartment was so small that the only place for Hedwig slash Hansel could find refuse to listen to his American Rock and Roll music was in the oven. The two lived together sleeping in the same bed until around Hedwig slash Hansel was into his late twenties and was discovered sunbathing on ruins by his semi perverted prince charming, an American military black man the two decides to get married and get the hell out of berlin. the only thing that stands in their way is Hedwig slash Hansel's little bishop between his slash her's legs but Hansels mother whose name by the way is Hedwig convinces him that its just a simple cut and paste job and she'll be on her way to america. but little did they know what they were into unfortunately for Hansel Berlin did not have the best plastic surgens around and instead of a female genitalia or even male genitalia he was left with a inch of skin where something was supposed to be there. thus the title angry inch. But to cut a good story short He took on his mothers name Hedwig and was then known throughout the movie as hedwig and referred to as her or she. and after a few months of wedding bliss she was left by her GI husband for a younger more tight boy. left by her husband and with an inch to work with she took all her anger and fustraion into making a remarkable band with beautiful songs in which she meets tommy gnosis or rather makes tommy gnosis this psuedo rockstar whom was created and shaped into a rockstar by none other Ms Hedwig herself and then like her father and husband left her in the dumps. but this time she wasn't going to let anyone take what she worked so hard at, her music and her heart. you see first Hedwig meet tommy while babysitting for his family tommy was just a christian rock nerd before ever meeting Hedwig and the two hit it off they were more in love than ever the problem tommy was sadly not into the whole inch thing and couldn't work it out so like the dish and the spoon he ran away with her heart and the songs in which she wrote and made him famous rather than herself. the underlining of this movie is all about find yourself and accepting who you are once you've found yourself and its about love and how sometimes you just have to let that one person who feel you can't live without, go. but enough about the film i command you to watch it listen to the soundtrack and be in love.
Rating:
Summary: Rock N Roll & Passion, Truth,Sadness,Loves found & Lost
Review: This movie -- I can watch it each and every day. The characters captured me and they were real people with their faults, genius, heart and soul. Anyone who enjoys Rock and a fabulously written script exploring Transgender relationships, the transgender mind will fall in love with Hedwig. ^5 to all connected with this brilliant movie. It is passion, grit, soul, heart, double cross, greed, and a search for love, acceptance. This movie is so great and moving I do not possess the vocabulary to describe the emotional journey the viewer travels. FANTASTIC
Rating:
Summary: Don't you know me, Kansas City?... I'm the new Berlin Wall!
Review: The Rocky Horror comparison is easy, I guess. Why? Well, it's a rock musical with transvestites in it, right? But it's much more than that. If you're a Rocky fan, and you watch Hedwig because you heard they're alike, expecting cult value, you'll probably be disappointed... even though Hedwig has more cult following than you'd expect, and in some places weekly screenings with costumes and audience participation a la Rocky are actually held. But Hedwig is much more than that. Aside from the truly great music (which I'll discuss in a minute) the story of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a sad tale of surprising depth, encompassing loneliness, betrayal, sexual confusion and identity crises as well as a bit of simplistic but kindly treated Platonic philosophy, with a brilliant ending that leaves many question marks and is good for hours of debate and discussion.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is certainly not, as some reviewers point out, a niche film to be enjoyed only by homosexuals - though I imagine you'd probably have some problems with it if you're particularly homophobic or conservative. As long as you're open-minded, Hedwig (meaning both the film and the character) has the power to appeal and to move everyone; I haven't seen the stage version - Many people say that other actors who played Hedwig were better than John Cameron Mitchell - but John is absolutely electrifying in this role, surprisingly appealing and charismatic, as well as recognizable (which is quite surprising when you're talking about a transvestite glam-rocker from East Germany), and he acts and sings with all his guts. The fact that he is also the writer and the director, I think, really shows and it's for the best; the film is very personal, and you can tell from his acting that the character is all his own. Miriam Shor and Michael Pitt are both amazing in the supporting roles.
Even if all of that doesn't work for you, the music is where the film really stands out, and it's also the biggest point of difference between it and Rocky. While Rocky was created and inspired by the glam rock scene, the music - with maybe a couple of exceptions, like the wonderful and biting 'Sweet Transvestite' - is the stuff of Broadway, or at least Off-Broadway. That's not putting it down; it was intentional. The music on the Rocky Horror Picture Show is for the most part musical parody, pop tunes of sarcasm and wonderful dark humor. The songs on Hedwig are much more serious business, and much more complex, too, and most of them sound like they might have been recorded by David Bowie at the very height of his career. The rockier, harder songs like 'Angry Inch', 'Exquisite Corpse' and the spectacular, show-stopping opener 'Tear Me Down' sound like Ziggy Stardust mixed with Iggy Pop and tossed twenty five years into the future, with heavenly power chords and thundering bass and drums; 'The Origin Of Love' is an amazingly beautiful epic rock ballad with gorgeous lyrics; 'Wig In A Box' is a spectacular pop song which is so catchy it would have made a mega-hit were it released in the 70s; and the closing song 'Midnight Radio' is so classic a power ballad that you'll find your hand immediately reaching for the lighter. The band is fantastic, they have a terrific sound and are all great musicians, but they let Mitchell have all the attention he deserves. By the way, the music used in the shooting is playback as is usually the case in such movies, but John's vocals were recorded live, and it shows in his very emotional and powerful performances that have the feel of a live concert. Also, each song - especially 'The Origin Of Love' and 'Wig In A Box' - is shot as a perfect video clip. The band members, though they are not actors, and hardly talk at all, all look great on film and are pretty funny guys, too.
In conclusion, let's just say it's a great film and get it over with. It's not a trash film, or a cult film, or a gay film. Just a great musical and a great film overall. I dare you not to run and buy the soundtrack after you watch it.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: When I first saw Hedwig, I was amazed. Not only is John Cameron Mitchell incredibly hot as a man or a woman. The movie is wonderful. It follows the story of Hedwig Robinson, a german woman born as a man called Hansel in cold war Berlin on the Eastern side of the Berlin wall. Feeling trapped and isolated, the rock and roll obsessed Hansel wishes to get out of Berlin hoping for a better life. He meets the american soldier Luther Robinson, who promises to marry Hansel and get him out of berlin. There is a catch; in order to be able to marry Luther, Hansel must undergo a full physical examination. In order to pass the examination, Hansel takes on the identity of a woman taking his mother's name (Hedwig Schmidt) and undergoes a sex-change operation, which unfortunatley goes awry and Hedwig is left with a small one-inch section of a penis. Sometime later, Luther and Hedwig have relocated to a small town in Kansas now, Luther has left her and now Hedwig must sit alone and watch as the Berlin wall comes down and is now alone. Hedwig gets a job babysitting for a local general while starting up a rock and roll band. She meets the teenager Tommy Speck (later known as Tommy Gnosis) and they develop a relationship while Hedwig sharpens Tommy's musical abilities. After discovering Hedwig's secret Tommy runs off, with all of Hedwigs music. Angry and hurt, Hedwig now travels around with her new band following Tommy. The music (written by Stephen Trask) tells Hedwigs story. John Cameron Mitchell sings the music with so much life you can feel what Hedwig feels. While there are many cross-dressing movies, this movie is simply beyond that. It examines the question of gender, what does it mean to be a woman? How can you define gender, biologically, socially? This is a great film, I suggest that anyone could watch this movie and enjoy it. You don't have to be transgendered to enjoy Hedwig, you just have to have an open mind.
Rating:
Summary: A simply beautiful story...
Review: I was recommended this movie mainly due to my liking of Velvet Goldmine (the two are very different and should never be compared), and I must say that I was far from disappointed. It is a beautiful story about love, trying to find your "other half", trying to find yourself, & and finally having the courage to be yourself. This is not just a story that transexuals or sexually "confused" people will be able to relate to, contrary to what another individual said. The visuals are wonderful, as is the acting, and the soundtrack alone will make you fall in love with the film. The comic bits in the movie are hilarious as well.
The story is about a young man living in East Berlin pre-wall collapse. He falls in love with an American soldier, and desparate to leave his communist side of the country, decides to have a sex change so that he may marry the soldier and come to America. Unfortunately, the operation was botched and he was left with a "one-inch mound of flesh." Not too long after coming to America he is dumped in a trailer park in Kansas, his husband leaving him. He begins to write songs and perform them near and around the army base, catching the attention of a young Christian by the name of Tommy. The two become involved, but when the relationship turns sour Tommy steals Hedwig's songs, shooting to Christian Rock superstardom with the name Hedwig gave him: Tommy Gnosis. Hedwig follows Tommy around the country with his own band as Tommy tours, trying to gain the respect and recognition he deserves, not only from Tommy, but from the world. All of this is gradually told through Hedwig speaking to his various audiences around the country about he came to be the "slip of a girly-boy barely standing before you", with the occasional aid of child-like cartoons and drawings. The very end scene leaves something to be desired, within me at least, but it doesn't take much away from my love of the film.
This is truly a fantastic film that can be enjoyed by anyone though a slightly more open-mind to people of different sexualities and men in makeup is recommended, though will probably be obtained after viewing.
Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Hedwig And The Angry Inch.....
Review: Well, I just watched Hedwig and the angry inch last night after purchasing the movie from amazon. I was excited considering the great reviews and I liked the movie Velvet Goldmine ( which other chatters who liked hedwig recomended) so i figured Id like this. This is nothing like Velvet Goldmine! Its about a german kid who wants to grow up and become a rock star , ends up meeting a adolesant played by Mike Pitt ( Tommy ) who ends up stealing Hedwigs songs/ Those 2 sort of have a love affair but Tommy cant deal with Hedwigs ( Inch ) a botched sex change operation he had to undergo to get out of Germany. Am i missing somthing here? The whole cartoons integrated with the movie reminded me of the wall a little , it certainly had an interesting concept but it just was to weird. I love weird but I cannot see how anyone other than Transexuals or people who had a sex change can like this movie or understand Hedwig. The rocky horror picture show was better than this! So was velvet goldmine. Those big blond wigs were just stupid and the songs were all about his sex change or his love affair with mike pitt or wigs. Also a black sugar daddy and gummy bears! WHAT?? The only song that stuck in my head was ( angry inch) other than that the lyrics werent that great. The only songs with good lyrics were origin of love and angry inch. The best part of the movie was at the end when hedwig got rid of that wig and his over the top personality and became serious and started really singing good. But then it ruins it when hes walking down the street naked at the end scene. I heard a reviewer say bowie shouldve been like or is like hedwig! Yea right, bowie isnt that flamboyant, hedwig is obvioussly gay and his singing is nothing like bowies. I dont know what to say about this movie, maybe I should give it another shot and see if i like it more. Then ill write another review , but i doubt I will. I didnt like MIke pitt in that role, just didnt fit him. They couldve chosen a better actor or one who suits the role more than him. Go watch Velvet Goldmine, i think youll enjoy it more, unless you are transexual yourself or can somehow identify with ( hedwig ).
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