My participation in Cine TV Contest #125 - Favorite Movie Musical
I remember it as a very pleasant stage in my life, I had a lot of stage fright, but my desire to live the experience was greater, I fulfilled that desire, I was part of a musical theater play, my character sang, danced and undressed in small existentialist monologues, the public was friendly and at times, euphoric, it was sensational.
I love theater, monologues, 90's pop music, the ring of light reflected in the gaze of my favorite singers in their music videos; which, in turn, were mosaics of colors and bursts of abstract movement, makeup and fashion.
I always tell my imaginary friends that all those beautiful songs are the soundtrack of my adolescence; a tragicomedy musical, intense, introspective, luminous and also somber like “Hedwig And The Angry Inch”.
Yes, “Hedwig And The Angry Inch” is the musical I chose to highlight, probably, one of my favorite movies out of thousands I have seen in my journey as a movie lover.
It wasn't love at first sight, I'll tell a little bit of the story, it was in 2003 or 2004, I was a teenager watching MTV until the wee hours of the morning and zapping, I once turned down the volume and tuned in to The Film Zone (hahaha), I don't think that channel exists anymore; that day was different, a scene on TNT caught my attention....
A strange looking restaurant with rock music, a man dressed as a woman with a Barbie wig combed cobra style, he was having spasms while singing, as if he was jumping on the thin line between ecstasy and overdose, behind, a woman dressed as a man giving it all like that chorus girl who has aspirations of being the lead singer, the music stops and the transvestite guy says; “Where my penis used to be now there is a scar like a painful memory...” Minutes later, chaos broke out, a very choreographed performance of violence, then the lead character levitates in slow motion, like Superman in the skies guarding the city. I liked what I saw, it seemed somewhat transgressive for the time, but I missed the beginning, so I turned off the TV or maybe I tuned in to The Film Zone, I forgot later details.
With the rise of Facebook and YouTube, 2009 could it be? Well, I, among many things, started following gay film themed accounts, now called “Queer Cinema”. In that category, this movie had one of the highest ratings, so I scheduled the time to watch it from beginning to end.
In my case, we are talking about a guy sensitive to art and philosophy, so that was a magical moment. I discovered my favorite musical.
I remember phrases and dialogues almost to perfection....
“How was it that an effeminate child from the communist side of Berlin is now the internationally ignored singer standing in front of you.”
“She seeks news of her fate on my face.”
“Was I really separated from my other half or did she just run off with all the virtues?”.
“One has to give something in return in order to be free and I know the doctor who will do it”, this particular phrase, I use a lot in my day to day arguments.
“Germans are patient and good things happen to those who know how to wait”. Hedwig was watching on television from America as the Berlin Wall came down, a scene that brought a lump to my throat.
Let's talk about the music, an element that greatly elevates the value of this work, in it there is melancholy, rebellion, wounds and scars, fear, honesty with irony, excesses, nudity, broken voices in harmony, like Bonnie Tyler singing “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, alternative rock, sound with touches of David Bowie, The Cure, Radiohead. I imagine that this album was recorded by Rob Thomas, Steven Tyler or Robbie Williams... What would be the story?.
My favorite songs are:
“Origin of Love”, an animation with drawings on toilet paper, made by a dreamy child.
“Wig In A Box”, Germany is free, the dress made of wigs, the karaoke moment.
“Midnight Radio”, vulnerability, forgiveness and the ‘Stage diving’ moment where a new star is born.
Finally, a message for those who have not yet seen it, “Hedwig And The Angry Inch” is a musical that broke the mold of the idea I had of a musical, it is a hybrid of emotions, a testimony with the language of truth, it tells the story of Hedwig, a transgender artist who emigrated from Germany to the USA, fell in love with a young man in the house where she was a maid, taught him the basics of pop culture, they wrote a lot of songs together and then, this young man becomes a kind of idol, like Freddie Mercury. The conflict arises when Hedwig discovers that she is not listed as the author of the most popular songs of the rock idol of the moment, she is almost poor when she could be rich, and in full dilemma, she decides to pursue, on the verge of harassment, the rockstar.
If you like movies like “(500) Days of Summer”, “Big Fish” or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Hedwig And The Angry Inch” will please you, it's in the hall of cult movies.
I bid you farewell.
Translated with DeepL.com
Source of images in order of appearance: [ 1 - 2 - 3 ]
