Review of Hedwig And The Angry Inch

Introduction

Adapted from the huge almost cult off Broadway stage show into a movie, Hedwig and The Angry Inch is an interestingly flamboyant creation. It mixes 70`s style glam rock and punk with art and theatre and tells the story of Hedwig, a person just like anyone else, someone who has issues about freedom, love, who they are and what they want. And thus begins the story from her childhood through to adult, getting married, having a botched sex change operation and falling for Tommy Gnosis.

Tommy`s meteoric rise to stardom and Hedwig`s road to nowhere leads an embittered Hedwig and her band, The Angry Inch, to tour dingy empty restaurants vying for recognition.

Video

The quality of the 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is a bit on the soft side throughout, but this doesn`t really detract from the movie. Colours look well saturated and vivid with the films low budget origins clearly in effect. I couldn`t really spot any technical flaws in the transfer, it`s done quite well and suits the look and feel of a musical documentary.

Audio

This is a surprise turnout, we get DD5.1 and a DTS soundtrack too. Excellent! Since the movie revolves around sound, what we get here is quite good. Both DD and DTS sound wide and dynamic lending a lot of power to the music, sadly though this front soundstage doesn`t extend fully to the rear for the effects. I found the rears lacking.

The dialogue however is crisp and clear and since this film is all about music, this is where it scores really well. The sometimes over the top rock just sounds awesome and it`s tempting to pump up the sound to `11` for that little extra kick. :-)

Features

There`s a good set of features on this disc. Apart from the Director/Director of Photography commentary there`s the `Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig documentary which runs for 85 minutes, Deleted Scenes, Select a Song, Trailer and Cast and Crew info.

The gems here apart from the movie are the 85 minute documentary and the scene specific commentary track. This is simply what I would expect from a proper making of feature. The documentary is funny, entertaining and very well worth the time to watch; the commentary too is a cool track to listen to too. For a film with such low budget origins it`s a welcome change from the PR fluff that we have to endure on bigger pictures. The trailer is one of those rare elements, i.e. it doesn`t give away too much and certainly is intriguing and last but not least is Cast and Crew discography.

The region 1 disc has the additional Hedwig website as a DVD-Rom feature.

Conclusion

Who is Hedwig? What`s it all about? I think the story is ultimately one of love and freedom. It`s a strange, surreal and intriguing movie to begin with and it grew on me the second time I saw it. The camp and comedic storytelling riding the coattails of brash punk and rock music is a tour de force unseen since the likes of Rocky Horror. Actor, writer, director John Cameron Mitchell has made a truly compelling film of his original stage show. Everything from the writing, the cast performances and the song writing is top notch.

There`s animation mixed in with the story too and this is wonderfully done. The song, "Origin of Love", is a full length animated story which is supposedly adapted from Aristophanes speech in Plato`s Symposium. I quite enjoyed this mix of story with flashback and animation. It certainly makes an impression.

This is an enjoyable film from start to finish and doesn`t outstay its welcome coming in at just 90 minutes. Some people may compare it to other similar `rockumentaries` or whatever, but it`s sufficiently different enough to be an enjoyable film in its own right. I have to say that the music isn`t bad either. All in all this is a great package and with all these extras on top of the film it makes great value. If you have a love of music and long to see something that hasn`t been done since the likes of Rocky Horror, then this is definitely for you. Good music, good acting and an enjoyable romp through Hedwig`s story makes this a very likeable DVD. A must have for sure!