Mar. 27, 2004 - 6:44 pm
weird. i didn't realize until a couple of days ago that my friend Bess had actually suggested that i watch Walkabout (1971) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). lucky i went ahead and saw them. but she also suggested that i watch this film. very good suggestion. i didn't think i would like it but i did quite a bit.
this movie is one that is based on a long-running off-Broadway musical that ran in NYC. it was written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who did the same for the film. it's often referred to as a "rock opera." i don't really like that term, but i guess most of us understand what it means. it's a musical anyway with rock music.
it deals with Hedwig, a rock drag queen who actually sings in her band; the name of her band being the Angry Inch. she's a young escapee from east Berlin and a homosexual. she tells her story through music and the film also tells it through various types of visual art as to how she escaped from Germany and came to the state that she is at presently, playing musical runner up to a boy that she used to be having a love affair with.
first and foremost, this musical has excellent music. that's definitely one of the weak points of most musicals for me. i don't get into the music, so that doesn't help to pull me into the plot. it actually can easily detract from the plot for me and most often does so.
the plot of this film is also quite good. Hedwig has an interesting and unusual life and therefore has a good story to tell. the story is also visually told very creatively with inclusions of abstract cinematography, childlike animations, and unusual color and lighting adjustments performed on flashback sequences. visually, mentally, and aurally, this is an attractive movie.