A gender-queer punk-rock singer from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs.A gender-queer punk-rock singer from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs.A gender-queer punk-rock singer from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs.
- Awards
- 28 wins & 33 nominations
Sook-Yin Lee
- Kwahng-Yi
- (as Sook Yin Lee)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe story depicted in the song "Origin of Love" is from Plato's "Symposium," in which Aristophanes gives a speech about love being a product of the need to reunite with one's other half after being split into two, as punishment for conspiring to usurp the gods of Olympus.
- GoofsDuring Hedwig's story about Tommy Gnosis, the level of Zima in her bottle increases between shots.
- SoundtracksTear Me Down
(Hedwig version)
Written and Produced by Stephen Trask
Performed by John Cameron Mitchell, Stephen Trask, Miriam Shor, Bob Mould,
Theodore Liscinski (as Ted Liscinski), Perry James (as Perry L. James), Alexis Fleisig and Eli Janney
Featured review
Unbelievably Amazing and Completely Kick-Ass.
The press kit touts this film as a "Post-punk neo-glam rock odyssey," based on the hit off-broadway show that ran in New York from 1998-2000. Some people have compared it to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but that's only because it's the only other Glam Rock musical ever made into a movie.
The premise alone should make you want to see it: A rock-and-roll drag queen tells her bizarre life story, starting as a boy in East Berlin, falling in love with an American GI, and going for a sex-change operation, waking up to find nothing but a "one-inch mound of flesh" where her organ should be. The story takes more twists and turns after that, and I don't want to spoil anything.
The story is told mostly through the songs, which are perfect rock and roll gems, on par with the songs from Tommy. After only seeing it once, I walked away singing the words "Six inches forward and five inches back...I've got an angry inch!" over and over for days.
For a directorial debut with no big-name movie stars, the acting is right on the mark. These are theater people, after all, and there's none of the cringeworthy bad acting you see in a lot of independent films. John Cameron Mitchell gives the character Hedwig so much emotional depth, you forget that the premise is so silly.
The costumes are amazing, as you would expect from a movie with a drag queen as the main character. Hedwig wears no less than 41 outfits, one of which is a dress made entirely of hair.
I came away from this movie totally inspired. It positively electrified me with an energy I rarely feel from movies anymore. And I don't even like musicals!
The premise alone should make you want to see it: A rock-and-roll drag queen tells her bizarre life story, starting as a boy in East Berlin, falling in love with an American GI, and going for a sex-change operation, waking up to find nothing but a "one-inch mound of flesh" where her organ should be. The story takes more twists and turns after that, and I don't want to spoil anything.
The story is told mostly through the songs, which are perfect rock and roll gems, on par with the songs from Tommy. After only seeing it once, I walked away singing the words "Six inches forward and five inches back...I've got an angry inch!" over and over for days.
For a directorial debut with no big-name movie stars, the acting is right on the mark. These are theater people, after all, and there's none of the cringeworthy bad acting you see in a lot of independent films. John Cameron Mitchell gives the character Hedwig so much emotional depth, you forget that the premise is so silly.
The costumes are amazing, as you would expect from a movie with a drag queen as the main character. Hedwig wears no less than 41 outfits, one of which is a dress made entirely of hair.
I came away from this movie totally inspired. It positively electrified me with an energy I rarely feel from movies anymore. And I don't even like musicals!
helpful•8315
- PF
- Apr 22, 2001
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,082,286
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $156,724
- Jul 22, 2001
- Gross worldwide
- $3,660,081
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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