HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Year: 2000
USA: Fine Line Features
UK: Entertainment
Cast: John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor, Andrea Martin, Alberta Watson, Ben Mayer-Goodman, Stephen Trask, Theodore Liscinski, Rob Campbell, Michael Aranov, Gene Pyrz, Maurice Dean Wint, Renatta Options, Taylor Abrahamse
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Country: USA
Language: English / German
USA: 95 mins
UK: 91 mins
USA Rated: R for sexual content and language
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and moderate sex references and sex
USA Release Date: 20 July 2001 (Limited Release - Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco)
UK Release Date: 31 August 2001
Synopsis
Adapted from the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theatre hit, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH tells the story of an "internationally ignored" rock singer, Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell), and her search for stardom and love. Born a boy named Hansel whose life's dream is to find his other half, Hedwig reluctantly submits to a sex change operation in order to marry an American G.I. and get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The operation is botched, leaving her with the aforementioned "angry inch". Finding herself high, dry and divorced in a Kansas trailer park, she pushes on to form a rock band and encounters a lover/protege in young Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt), who eventually leaves her, steals her songs and becomes a huge rock star.
A bitter yet witty Hedwig with her pan-Slavic band, The Angry Inch, shadows Tommy's stadium tour, performing in near-empty restaurants for bewildered diners and a few die-hard fans. Through the songs, flashbacks and animation, Hedwig tells her life story while on a tour of chain strip-mall seafood restaurants, trying to capitalize on her tabloid celebrity as the supposed ex-lover of famed rock star, Tommy Gnosis. She struggles to pursue her dreams and discovers the origin of love.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH marks the directorial debut of John Cameron Mitchell, who along with composer/lyricist Stephen Trask, created and starred in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway production.