Originally a stage musical launched in 1998, Hedwig and the Angry Inch was adapted into a film in 2001 by John Cameron Mitchell. The director also writes and stars in this musical comedy-drama as Hansel Schmidt, an East German who undergoes a sex change to begin a new life in the US, but gets stuck with an ‘angry inch’ between his legs when the operation goes awry. Now living out her life as a transgendered person, she fronts an up-and-coming rock band, embarks on a love affair with a shy teenager who ends up stealing her songs (and her fame), and relates her life story to unsuspecting patrons in diners across the country.
Why watch it
‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch literally does everything. In an amazing feat praised by the film community, Mitchell also wrote and acted in his own film, taking on the role of the enigmatic, transgendered rock star, Hedwig. The film provides for its audience in every aspect and can only be summed up as a roller coaster of glitzy performances, intimate relationships and the chaos of jumping between these polar opposites. Hedwig has titillated audiences to no end.’
Why watch it
‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch literally does everything. In an amazing feat praised by the film community, Mitchell also wrote and acted in his own film, taking on the role of the enigmatic, transgendered rock star, Hedwig. The film provides for its audience in every aspect and can only be summed up as a roller coaster of glitzy performances, intimate relationships and the chaos of jumping between these polar opposites. Hedwig has titillated audiences to no end.’