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Hedwig?
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The Diving Bell And The Butterfly? Now this is a choice I can fully support!
I remember how much this movie gripped and fascinated me when I saw it. It was a contender for my list, but since it feels like something I need to rewatch since I decided not to include it.
I remember how much this movie gripped and fascinated me when I saw it. It was a contender for my list, but since it feels like something I need to rewatch since I decided not to include it.
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*Breathes a sigh of relief* I was really starting to worry that this wouldn't show up.
As those of you who know me know all too well, I HATE musicals. It's probably my least favorite genre of movies. But Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a huge exception. It's so funny and yet so moving and emotional. And the songs are absolutely wonderful. I love them so much I bought the soundtrack. I really can't praise this movie enough. I voted for it at #6 and never considered putting it any lower.
Here's a review I wrote of it back in 2016
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
Imdb
Date Watched: 02/28/16
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Hedwig is a reason unto itself
Rewatch: Yes
Behind the glamorous wigs and glittery makeup, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is at its core a story about the search for one's identity, the need for love, and the pursuit of dreams.
Struggling to cope with the physical and emotional scars of a botched sex change operation and her abandonment by her husband, Hedwig - born a boy named Hansel - takes babysitting jobs to pay the bills and turns to music to vent her pain. And it is through one of these odd jobs that she meets and falls in love with a 17 year old boy named Tommy, who is struggling to find his own identity. But like the men who've passed through Hedwig's life before him, Tommy ultimately betrays Hedwig and she is left to pick up the pieces.
But this is no melodrama. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is ripe with hilarious dialogue, thick with innuendo, and bursting at the seams with a fantastic soundtrack of songs that entertain, enlighten and work to move the story forward. Director, writer, and star John Cameron Mitchell is glorious as Hedwig, reveling in her exaggerated and flamboyant stage persona, delivering her sarcastic lines with a razor wit, and letting her vulnerability and humanity show in the quieter moments.
But his is not the only strong performance. Miriam Shor is fantastic as Yitzhak, Hedwig's long suffering and neglected partner and band member who envies the glamorous Hedwig, while also yearning to breach the emotional wall Hedwig has built. And of course Michael Pitt is a wonder as Tommy Gnosis, the boy whose very identity was a gift from Hedwig and who repaid her by stealing her songs and claiming them as his own.
Hedwig is a movie that dazzles with its glamour, but also with its color and creativity. Everything about this film pops and moves. Nothing you see on the screen is accidental or insignificant. Its imagery is evocative and enlightening and probably not moreso than the crudely beautiful animation that accompanies the philosophical "Origin of Love."
It's also a film that shifted my ideas of what a musical can be. It has made me recognize that a musical need not feature random bursts of song with choreographed dancing. It can incorporate music in a way that compliments the story and provides exposition without feeling gimmicky or at all out of place. I still generally dislike the genre but with its great humor and emotional impact, I cannot help but love this particular musical.
Now if only Quills would show up, I could really relax.
I never had any desire to watch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
My Ballot:
6. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (#91)
25. Surf's Up (One-Pointer)
As those of you who know me know all too well, I HATE musicals. It's probably my least favorite genre of movies. But Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a huge exception. It's so funny and yet so moving and emotional. And the songs are absolutely wonderful. I love them so much I bought the soundtrack. I really can't praise this movie enough. I voted for it at #6 and never considered putting it any lower.
Here's a review I wrote of it back in 2016
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
Imdb
Date Watched: 02/28/16
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Hedwig is a reason unto itself
Rewatch: Yes
Behind the glamorous wigs and glittery makeup, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is at its core a story about the search for one's identity, the need for love, and the pursuit of dreams.
Struggling to cope with the physical and emotional scars of a botched sex change operation and her abandonment by her husband, Hedwig - born a boy named Hansel - takes babysitting jobs to pay the bills and turns to music to vent her pain. And it is through one of these odd jobs that she meets and falls in love with a 17 year old boy named Tommy, who is struggling to find his own identity. But like the men who've passed through Hedwig's life before him, Tommy ultimately betrays Hedwig and she is left to pick up the pieces.
But this is no melodrama. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is ripe with hilarious dialogue, thick with innuendo, and bursting at the seams with a fantastic soundtrack of songs that entertain, enlighten and work to move the story forward. Director, writer, and star John Cameron Mitchell is glorious as Hedwig, reveling in her exaggerated and flamboyant stage persona, delivering her sarcastic lines with a razor wit, and letting her vulnerability and humanity show in the quieter moments.
But his is not the only strong performance. Miriam Shor is fantastic as Yitzhak, Hedwig's long suffering and neglected partner and band member who envies the glamorous Hedwig, while also yearning to breach the emotional wall Hedwig has built. And of course Michael Pitt is a wonder as Tommy Gnosis, the boy whose very identity was a gift from Hedwig and who repaid her by stealing her songs and claiming them as his own.
Hedwig is a movie that dazzles with its glamour, but also with its color and creativity. Everything about this film pops and moves. Nothing you see on the screen is accidental or insignificant. Its imagery is evocative and enlightening and probably not moreso than the crudely beautiful animation that accompanies the philosophical "Origin of Love."
It's also a film that shifted my ideas of what a musical can be. It has made me recognize that a musical need not feature random bursts of song with choreographed dancing. It can incorporate music in a way that compliments the story and provides exposition without feeling gimmicky or at all out of place. I still generally dislike the genre but with its great humor and emotional impact, I cannot help but love this particular musical.
I never had any desire to watch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
My Ballot:
6. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (#91)
25. Surf's Up (One-Pointer)
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See? Patience paid up for you 
Ooh, is that the Pepe le Pew skit where Penelope was born with a birthmark making her look like a skunk?
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Ooh, is that the Pepe le Pew skit where Penelope was born with a birthmark making her look like a skunk?
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No votes. I've seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly once and remember liking it. Saw Hedwig once and remember being really overwhelmed by it (in a good way) but part of me wonders if it would hold up to a second viewing.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
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Ooh, is that the Pepe le Pew skit where Penelope was born with a birthmark making her look like a skunk?
That's Sylvester
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I'm pretty sure that's Sylvester.
A mom was pregnant in that skit, and the father was present (and he looked like Sylvester). I haven't seen the skit in a while, but I vaguely remember this clip.
EDIT: Found it. I was right about the pacing father clip, but it wasn't the same clip. Guess I molded the two skits together. Penelope is pretty much a female Sylvester anyway.
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Another 'double doughnut' day for me as I've never seen either. Wouldn't be averse to giving Hedwig And The Angry Inch a go at some point but The Diving Bell And The Butterfly has never really appealed to me. I reckon this countdown will easily be the one that makes me the fattest with all these doughnuts 
Seen: 3/10 (Own: 3/10)
Faildictions (millennial edition v1.0):
90. Papurika [Paprika] (2006)
89. Avatar (2009)
Seen: 3/10 (Own: 3/10)
My ballot:
Faildictions (millennial edition v1.0):
90. Papurika [Paprika] (2006)
89. Avatar (2009)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is my #10.
Harrowing, beguiling, ultimately uplifting true-life story of French Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who suffers a catastrophic stroke and retains the sharpness of his mind while being unable to communicate his thoughts to others because all he can physically do is blink one eye. Eventually, his caregivers find a way to communicate with him, and he writes a book about his experiences from a place which no other human has ever been able to describe before. While watching this one-of-a-kind film, you'll probably experience emotions which you may have groped to express before but couldn't quite find the way, but this film should truly get your attention and make you realize how much the average person just takes for granted.
Some of my favorite parts of the film are when you hear "Jean Do" thinking, fully aware of his situation and plainly pissed at it, but all the onlookers only hear the silence coming from him. He is equally exasperated when he begins to try to use the method which has been developed for him to talk with this "normal" world since it is so painstakingly boring and time-consuming. The fact that the man could overcome everything and write such a poetic, life-affirming homage to his family and friends is truly awe-inspiring. This, combined with the fact that he loved women so much and is basically surrounded by attractive women at his hospital and can do nothing about it, only adds to the power of the film's brutal honesty. The techniques developed by Schnabel, scripter Ronald Harwood and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski to tell this story almost seem to be as significant as those of Jean Do since the film was shot on the actual locations he lived in France after his stroke and the entire film is also all done in French. Don't let any of that dissuade anyone from watching this amazing film. I'm not a fan of Schnabel's earlier Basqiat and Before Night Falls, but this film completely disarmed me and pretty much blew me away.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a solid musical about an outsider. In fact, Miss Vicky loves it and she hates musicals. It didn't make my list though.
My List
10. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
21. Pride & Prejudice
Harrowing, beguiling, ultimately uplifting true-life story of French Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) who suffers a catastrophic stroke and retains the sharpness of his mind while being unable to communicate his thoughts to others because all he can physically do is blink one eye. Eventually, his caregivers find a way to communicate with him, and he writes a book about his experiences from a place which no other human has ever been able to describe before. While watching this one-of-a-kind film, you'll probably experience emotions which you may have groped to express before but couldn't quite find the way, but this film should truly get your attention and make you realize how much the average person just takes for granted.
Some of my favorite parts of the film are when you hear "Jean Do" thinking, fully aware of his situation and plainly pissed at it, but all the onlookers only hear the silence coming from him. He is equally exasperated when he begins to try to use the method which has been developed for him to talk with this "normal" world since it is so painstakingly boring and time-consuming. The fact that the man could overcome everything and write such a poetic, life-affirming homage to his family and friends is truly awe-inspiring. This, combined with the fact that he loved women so much and is basically surrounded by attractive women at his hospital and can do nothing about it, only adds to the power of the film's brutal honesty. The techniques developed by Schnabel, scripter Ronald Harwood and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski to tell this story almost seem to be as significant as those of Jean Do since the film was shot on the actual locations he lived in France after his stroke and the entire film is also all done in French. Don't let any of that dissuade anyone from watching this amazing film. I'm not a fan of Schnabel's earlier Basqiat and Before Night Falls, but this film completely disarmed me and pretty much blew me away.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a solid musical about an outsider. In fact, Miss Vicky loves it and she hates musicals. It didn't make my list though.
My List
10. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
21. Pride & Prejudice
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I've not seen either of these!
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Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a solid musical about an outsider. In fact, Miss Vicky loves it and she hates musicals. It didn't make my list though.
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I've heard neither The Diving Bell nor the Hedwig.
What a day.
I'm apprehensive for my list, feel that most of the titles I've included fall into the zone #150 backwards.
Seen 4/10.
None of my list makes top 100 so far.
What a day.
I'm apprehensive for my list, feel that most of the titles I've included fall into the zone #150 backwards.
Seen 4/10.
None of my list makes top 100 so far.
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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.
"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.
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Another 'double doughnut' day for me as I've never seen either. Wouldn't be averse to giving Hedwig And The Angry Inch a go at some point but The Diving Bell And The Butterfly has never really appealed to me. I reckon this countdown will easily be the one that makes me the fattest with all these doughnuts
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I'm not gonna lie or hide from my ignorance. when MV first posted "Hedwig" all I could think of was:
I thought huh... never figured MV for this type of kids flick. Wait... didn't this JUST come out too??
I'm too 'shamed.
I thought huh... never figured MV for this type of kids flick. Wait... didn't this JUST come out too??
I'm too 'shamed.
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"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel
"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel
"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear
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