Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Blu-ray)

With this trailblazing musical, writer–director–star John Cameron Mitchell and composerlyricist Stephen Trask brought their signature creation from stage to screen for a movie asunclassifiable as its protagonist.

Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig (Mitchell) undergoes a traumatic personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an“internationally ignored” but divinely talented rock diva, characterized by Mitchell as a “beautiful gender of one.”

The film tells Hedwig’s life through her music, an eclectic assortment of original punk anthems and power ballads by Trask, matching them with a freewheeling cinematic mosaic of music-video fantasies, animated interludes, and moments of bracing emotional realism. A hard-charging song cycle and a tender character study, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a tribute to the transcendent power of rock and roll.

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director John Cameron Mitchell and cinematographer Frank G. DeMarco, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Mitchell and DeMarco
• New conversation with members of the cast and crew
• New conversation between composer and lyricist Stephen Trask and rock critic David Fricke about the film’s soundtrack
• Documentary from 2003 tracing the development of the project
• Close look at the film’s Adam and Eve sequence
• New programmes exploring Hedwig’s creation, look and legacy through its memorabilia
• Deleted scenes with commentary by Mitchell and DeMarco
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek, portraits of Hedwig by photographer Mick Rock, along with, illustrations by animator Emily Hubley, and excerpts from two texts that inspired the film: Plato’s Symposium and The Gospel of Thomas.