Musical or Musiglam

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2014)

Plot: Hedwig, an kid from the RFA with some gender issues, finds only one way to escape from his country. Sex-change surgery, marry an American soldier and then grab his mother passport to get the hell out of there. Now in the USA, we will witness her story: girl meets boy, boy steals her songs to become a rock star...all of it through a great musical, or better said a "musiglam". Ludicrous, is it not? John Cameron Mitchell adapts his own Off-Broadway play into the big screen, directs and stars as Hedwig, in a movie full of colors, light and music. A film that became an instant classic, a cult low budget movie, and a reference in indie filmmaking at the beginning of this century. Stephen Trask plays the role of guitar player in Hedwig's band, and he is responsible for the whole soundtrack, a track list as solid as touching; what a perfect music for such a story.
I remember watching this film around 2002 or 2003 in a nearby cinema, a "Glam Night", films like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (Jim Sharman, 1975), "Velvet Goldmine" (Todd Haynes, 1998) or this very film. I am not a fan of musicals, they seem to me a bit absurd, but when I watched this, I thought: "well, if it's excessive, it better be ridiculously excessive". And so it was, but not only that, it is a great film, a touching story and a wonderful soundtrack. Meet Hedwig, it is impossible not to enjoy her story.