Hedwig and the Angry Inch
(2001, Dir.: John Cameron Mitchell, with John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor)
The "Wig in a Box" and "Wicked Little Town (Tommy)/Midnight Radio" sequences stood out, but the whole movie is terrific. It turns out John Cameron Mitchell is not only a great writer and actor, but a helluva director as well. And Michael Pitt's transformation from Tommy Speck to Tommy Gnosis is almost as amazing as those of Hedwig and Yitzhak (I have met Miriam Shor, and the transformation of such a beautiful woman into such a scruffy guy is a tribute to her acting and to the skill of the makeup artists). Sentiment still makes me wistful for the stage show, but as adaptations go, this is hard to beat.
8 April 2003