STARS : JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, ANDREA MARTIN, MICHAEL PITT, & MIRIAM SHOR

The key to enjoying this movie is simply to approach it with an open mind and in the mood for a very witty “Rock Musical” that is a mesh of Rocky Horror and Spinal Tap.

The character of Hedwig first came to prominence in a off Broadway play at the Squeezebox theatre back in 1994 and is now larger than life in the movie version of the play.

Winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance Festival, the film is set in the US. Hedwig is the cross dressing lead singer of the band “The Angry Inch” who are currently playing concerts in diners across Kansas City to audiences who are less than appreciative of the displays being put on whilst trying to eat dinner.

Hedwig, has his own problems, and whilst he and his band are stuggling to make a meagre living, ex lover Tommy Gnosis (Pitt) is “Artist Of The Year” and HAVING #1 singles with material stolen from Hedwig when they split up. There is also a lawsuit in progress that if successful will get Hedwig his rightful song writing credits and the success he so desperately longs for.

The movie is also about what set Hedwig on the path to where he finds himself today, with flashbacks to his childhood in Berlin from the late 1960’s onwards and complete with rather interesting animation to boot.

Songs performed by Hedwig & The Angry Inch are surprisingly good especially the single “Tear Me Down” which is very catchy and somewhat poignant as well and demonstrates the sort of mind melt that Hedwig has suffered. I believe that the reason the songs are so good is due to their familiarity as they borrow heavily from other artists such as the Bee Gees.

John Mitchell is a very talented individual and is probably in front of the camera for 90% of the film which can often spell disaster is the performance isn’t up to scratch, but poses no problem here.

THE EXTRAS

* Audio Commentary : John Cameron Mitchell and Director of Photography Frank G. DeMarco barely allow a moment to go by without adding some snippet of information. they spill a lot of info on where problems occured, who did the animation, where the concert footage came from, how the movie was storyboarded and so on. Outstanding.

* Making Of : This is an 87 minute making of that covers every “inch” of the creation of Hedwig. Comprehensive does not do this feature justice. There are interviews with Mitchell from the Sundance festival as well as the obligatory looks behind the scenes. I mentioned that the commentary was excellent but this making of is simply amazing. The best part of this feature is the first appearance of Hedwig at the Squeezebox theatre back in 1994 and just how much the character has developed in the last 8 years. By the end of HAVING watched these 2 features you will know more about Hedwig than you would of thought possible nor probably have wanted to.

* Deleted Scenes (12 mins): There are 2 deleted scenes. The first is a mix of extended the Tommy confrontation/laundrette scene as well as new footage with the clear highlight being the phone that Hedwig’s manager has. The second is called Bedroom Boogie and is an extension of a young Hedwig dancing in his bedroom. Both of these can be viewed with or without Mitchell’s commentary.

* Theatrical Trailer

* Filmographies : Takes a look at each of the band members as other lesser seen characters.

* Select-a-song : As its name suggests this feature allows you to play the song of your choice from the movie in either 5.1 or DTS or simply view only the songs and skip the feature.

CONCLUSION

This is an excellent commentary and this when coupled with the making of makes this one of the most comprehensive DVD’s I’ve ever viewed.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love it when films surprise me and this one is full of surprises. Witty, sarcastic and very entertaining, make this a must see film. Awesome!