Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Director- John Cameron Mitchell

Cast- John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt

Country of Origin- U.S.

Distributor - Criterion

Number of discs –  1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 07/14/2019

   Hedwig and the Angry Inch follows Hansel Schmidt, a young conflicted person, who meets and falls in love with an American soldier named Luther. Hansel grew up in Germany's Eastern Block, and agreed to a sex change plus marriage to Luther to get out of there and into the west.  Unfortunately for the now Hedwig, the sex change was botched leaving her with the titular "Angry Inch".  Also, her marriage would last for a year before it failed and Luther left her for a man.

    Hedwig was always into rock and roll, and started working with a young boy Tommy Speck, giving him rock and roll, music lessons and writing songs with him. She would eventually dub him Tommy Gnosis, and he would, like Luther, betray her. She then started a series of bands to keep her dream of rock and roll alive, they of course, were not successful, while Tommy grew into a huge rock star.

    John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch alongside Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, could quite easily be considered the first examples of true cult cinema in the new millennium.  The film channels the spirit of films like the rock musicals of the 70's Phantom of the Paradise, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Shock Treatment.   The film has an endearing social quality dealing with transgender issues prior to them being more well known in the mainstream.

    The film is also a visual delight with Cameron Mitchell making a huge bright and campy films with added animated sequences to boot. The performances across the board are fantastic with Cameron Mitchell owning the title roll, and a young Michael Pitt capturing the tones of a conflicted Tommy Gnosis.   The songs that dominate the film really are catchy, and interesting, capturing the tone of the piece while managing to be entertaining.

    Criterion presents Hedwig and the Angry Inch in a splendid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. Everything here looks truly fantastic, colors pop, details are textures are vastly improved from their DVD counterpart. Audio is handled with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, which has a lot of depth, and truly helps to convey the sound of the film very well.  Extras include multiple featurettes including a reunion among the main participants, a telling of the story behind the film, interviews, commentaries, trailers and more.  Hedwig and the Angry Inch is one of the first new cult films of the post-2000 period. It is quirky, socially relevant, and just damn entertaining. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.