Hedwig and the Angry Inch film review

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HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

Rocky Horror eat your heart out. John Cameron Mitchell's cult off-Broadway musical is a pithy tale of love lost and found, transsexuals and sugar daddies. Adapted for the screen and directed by its creator, Hedwig And The Angry Inch is unspeakably good fun. And the tunes rock too.

East German loner Hansel (Mitchell) agrees to a sex change in order to marry his American soldier lover (Maurice Dean Wint). The operation goes dreadfully wrong, leaving poor Hansel - now re-christened Hedwig - with the angry inch of the title.

Hedwig's husband abandons her for a younger man, and she seeks solace in the music industry, shaping the formative career of wannabe rocker Tommy Gnosis (Pitt).

Then the boy steals her songs and hits the big time, and Hedwig thirsts for revenge. So she stalks the rising star from one concert venue to the next, hoping that he will one day give her the public recognition she deserves.

Mitchell has opened out his stage work with expert precision, introducing the characters of rock star Tommy Gnosis and his inept manager Phyllis Stein (Martin).

He retains the excitement of the theatre version by singing the musical numbers live on camera. You even get the audience sing-a-long section, complete with on screen lyrics and a bouncing ball to keep everybody in time.

The action is interspersed with Emily Hubley's quirky animations, particularly during the musical numbers. These are extremely effective during the ballad The Origin Of Love, in which Hedwig recounts a story from childhood about the creation of men and women.

Mitchell is mesmerising as the gender-bending heroine, clad in a succession of eye-popping outfits. He draws out his character's melancholy and lust for life, and has a voice to die for.

Shor, who worked with Mitchell off-Broadway, is equally dazzling as Hedwig's new husband Yitzhak, who secretly yearns to try on his wife's wigs.

The soundtrack is brilliantly infectious, crammed with tunes you'll be singing weeks after the end credits roll. Wunderbar!