Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

This movie is the film adaptation of an off-Broadway musical about a transexual from East Berlin who eventually comes to the United States and tries to find herself and her "other half" through music and performance.  The star and director of it, John Cameron Mitchell, made it a point to keep the spirit of a theatrical performance alive in the film medium.  This is evident in various points in the movie where the band plays a song that draws the plot and message along.

The mise-en-scene in this film is key to the story-telling.  Hedwig's elaborate costumes reflect her personality and sometimes even important slogans as in the picture above.  Her cape reads, "Yankee go home...with me!"  It shows her feelings of not belonging and also her beliefs of peace for everyone.  She turns her sexuality into something playful or shocking, to get people's attention and get her message across.  The bright spotlight plays up the theatrics of the story.

The same can be said in the "Wig in a Box" scene that is over-the-top, which shows how Hedwig feels the need to be the one who's over the top and doesn't take herself seriously in order to feel better about herself and her situation.  The overhead long shot shows the stage and bright lights, which makes the eye focus on the small group of people surrounded by darkness and emptiness.  This is done to capture the good feeling of the moment and the feeling that nothing else around them matters.

The colors, for the most part are very bright throughout the movie except for the ending performance of  "Wicked Little Town" which is dark with dim lighting, "Midnight Radio" which is white with bright lights, and the scenes where Hedwig (Hansel) is in East Berlin.  Everything in Germany is portrayed as drab and is shot in pale blue/gray light.  The bag of German gummy bears shown above, shows Hedwig's childhood memories, when she couldn't express herself and felt oppressed.

Some interesting editing choices were during the opening song, "Tear Me Down" and "The Origin of Love" shown above.  During these two songs, performances are spliced with animated footage of childhood drawings.  The cuts emphasize the songs' meanings and pertinence to the story.  An editing choice during "The Origin of Love" is especially powerful when an extreme close up of Hedwig's emotional face takes up the whole scene.  It is there for a few seconds, but then the screen is split in two, showing her face and the animations.  I thought this choice made the message really hit home especially because it seems that she is singing directly to the viewer.

Overall, I think this was a beautifully shot film, and although some people might not like it or quite understand what it's about, it is extremely creative and a true work of art.