Creative genius comes out of nowhere

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2003)

I just had the TV running in the background late one night while "Angry Inch" was airing. I occasionally noticed some of the scenes, when I started to be drawn in to the music and the plot. Before I knew it, I was totally engrossed in this unknown flick from some East German I never heard of. The music--written by Stephen Trask, another unknown to me--contained incredible ballads and rock and roll (if you have any appreciation for rock and roll, you'll feel like dancing and get lost in these songs, particularly the title song, "I Got An Angry Inch") , the plot was wonderfully different, interesting with an inspiring underlying message, the acting was great and the directing and editing were masterful, and if that weren't enough, it was very funny, even though inspired from tragedy ("Our apartment was very small, so I had to listen to my radio with my head in the oven." -- his mother punished him.) The movie was written, directed and had starred John Cameron Mitchell. There were no weaknesses. I believe the acting was so good, in part, because the director was great. It's obvious to me that this man is a creative genius and I've never heard of him. Where did he come from (East Germany, but I was talking metaphorically!)? It's wonderful when you catch a film that you never heard of because it hasn't gone through the Hollywood marketing machine--nor is it like anything Hollywood puts out. Will there be an encore, Mr. Mitchell? Or are you a one-hit wonder? Or maybe you already had an encore, but just couldn't get that huge Hollywood marketing budget. I'll be looking.