Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and Velvet Goldmine

Spinach_Indeed · 07-23-2003, 11:48 AM

I recently rewatched these two movies. I had forgotten how much I totally am entralled with these two films. The Music, The sexuality, the imagry. Velvet Goldmine has some of the Music I've seen in a film, as does Hedwig. Has anyone else seen these films or have any thoughts?

Hedwig and The Angry Inch

This film tells the story of an 'internationally ignored' rock singer, Hedwig and her search for freedom and love. Born a boy named Hansel, whose life dream is to find his other half, Hedwig reluctantly submits to a sex change operation in order to marry an American G.I. and get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The operation is botched, leaving her with the aforementioned angry inch. From East Berlin, she sets off for Kansas City with hopes of becoming a famous rocker. Finding herself high, dry and divorced in a Kansas trailer, Hedwig pushes to form a rock band--The Angry Inch. While supporting herself with babysitting gigs, she falls for a 16-year-old Jesus freak she renames Tommy Gnosis. Tommy steals her songs and becomes the rock star Hedwig always dreamed she'd be. Refusing to be defeated, she fiercely performs in crumbling theme restaurants seeking recognition and retribution.

Velvet Goldmine

A glam rock version of "Citizen Kane," with the fictionalized spotlight turned on David Bowie instead of William Randolph Hearst,"Goldmine" follows the structure Orson Welles' used for "Citizen Kane," documenting the rise and fall of a glam rock superstar -- Brian Slade (a very thinly disguised Bowie-esque pop idol) -- through flashback vignettes told by his contemporaries as they are interviewed by a reporter on the 10th anniversary of his disappearance after a publicity stunt that ruined his career.
Among others, the reporter (Christian Bale) interviews Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), Slade's hard-living collaborator, rival and sometime lover -- the Iggy Pop character -- and his bitter, lounge-singer ex-wife (Toni Collette), a parallel of both Angela Bowie and the Charles Foster Kane's talentless, drunk ex.
The film documents Slade's early days as an aimless post-hippie singer who hadn't found his voice then follows him through the invention of his glam persona (think Ziggy Stardust) that launches him into super-stardom, capturing precisely the period's pandemonium of androgyny, bisexuality, drugs and rock'n'roll.
Meanwhile, Meyers and McGregor manifest the glam rock attitudes (fey, petulant pouts, sexual stage antics) and concealed insecurities of their largely dazed characters so fully that it lends them an almost tragic depth. Toni Collette stands out as something of an escapee from Slade's destructive world, who a decade later is clearly worse for the wear. And Christian Bale gets to flesh out his reporter quite a bit, struggling with his own memories of his volatile post-pubescence during the era he's revisiting.

07-23-2003, 11:48 AM	#1 (permalink)
Spinach_Indeed Banned? Location: Artic Tundra	"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and Velvet Goldmine I recently rewatched these two movies. I had forgotten how much I totally am entralled with these two films. The Music, The sexuality, the imagry. Velvet Goldmine has some of the Music I've seen in a film, as does Hedwig. Has anyone else seen these films or have any thoughts? Hedwig and The Angry Inch This film tells the story of an 'internationally ignored' rock singer, Hedwig and her search for freedom and love. Born a boy named Hansel, whose life dream is to find his other half, Hedwig reluctantly submits to a sex change operation in order to marry an American G.I. and get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The operation is botched, leaving her with the aforementioned angry inch. From East Berlin, she sets off for Kansas City with hopes of becoming a famous rocker. Finding herself high, dry and divorced in a Kansas trailer, Hedwig pushes to form a rock band--The Angry Inch. While supporting herself with babysitting gigs, she falls for a 16-year-old Jesus freak she renames Tommy Gnosis. Tommy steals her songs and becomes the rock star Hedwig always dreamed she'd be. Refusing to be defeated, she fiercely performs in crumbling theme restaurants seeking recognition and retribution. Velvet Goldmine A glam rock version of "Citizen Kane," with the fictionalized spotlight turned on David Bowie instead of William Randolph Hearst,"Goldmine" follows the structure Orson Welles' used for "Citizen Kane," documenting the rise and fall of a glam rock superstar -- Brian Slade (a very thinly disguised Bowie-esque pop idol) -- through flashback vignettes told by his contemporaries as they are interviewed by a reporter on the 10th anniversary of his disappearance after a publicity stunt that ruined his career. Among others, the reporter (Christian Bale) interviews Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), Slade's hard-living collaborator, rival and sometime lover -- the Iggy Pop character -- and his bitter, lounge-singer ex-wife (Toni Collette), a parallel of both Angela Bowie and the Charles Foster Kane's talentless, drunk ex. The film documents Slade's early days as an aimless post-hippie singer who hadn't found his voice then follows him through the invention of his glam persona (think Ziggy Stardust) that launches him into super-stardom, capturing precisely the period's pandemonium of androgyny, bisexuality, drugs and rock'n'roll. Meanwhile, Meyers and McGregor manifest the glam rock attitudes (fey, petulant pouts, sexual stage antics) and concealed insecurities of their largely dazed characters so fully that it lends them an almost tragic depth. Toni Collette stands out as something of an escapee from Slade's destructive world, who a decade later is clearly worse for the wear. And Christian Bale gets to flesh out his reporter quite a bit, struggling with his own memories of his volatile post-pubescence during the era he's revisiting. __________________ Spinach in Need is Spinach Indeed