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Seattle's International Film Festival: Part 8

SIFF Day 19 – Hedwig Inches Way to Being Audience's Favorite

By Sara M. Fetters.

Return of the Musical

I’m starting to think that 2001 can be thought of in terms as the minor return of the musical as a cinematic art form.  With Moulin Rouge heating up the box office – at least as a niche cult art film – and dividing moviegoers right and left, now comes the “post-punk neo-glam rock odyssey” – so called in the film’s press kit – Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Scheduled to begin general release in New York and Los Angeles in July, Hedwig is a film adaptation of the acclaimed 1998 – 2000 Off-Broadway hit pertaining to the exploits of East German émigré Hedwig and her band The Angry Inch as they make their way across America.  In doing so, the story of her life unfolds from being a punk obsessed young boy, to the American GI who loves her, to the surgery that leaves her with the titular “Angry Inch,” to the rock superstar who stole her songs and became famous.

It’s a gender bending, rock spewing, visually stunning, makeup stained odyssey of obsession, forgiveness and longing that must be seen to be believed.  It’s also one the year’s most energized and dynamic films leaving audiences from Sundance to Seattle bowled over and singing their way out the door.  People flat out love this movie and the play it is based upon.  At the Seattle screening at the Cinerama, I met a woman who had seen a local production of John Cameron Mitchell’s opus over 40 times.  When the theater audience broke out into song half way through the movie, I knew then that she wasn’t the only one.  This thing has audience participation written all over it and it would not surprise me in the slightest if it spawns it’s own Rocky Horror-like cult following.

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Hedwig takes home the Golden Space Needle Award as the audience’s choice for best film at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.  It won me over, and while not my choice for the best film per se, it is the most fun I’ve had at any film over the length of the entire festival - and just maybe the most fun I’ve had at the movies this entire year.

Not Just a TV Star

People tend to forget that Christine Lahti has been around Hollywood far longer than she’s been on TV’s Chicago Hope.  That her first major film role was opposite Al Pacino in 1979’s …And Justice For All.  Or that she gave one of 1992’s best performances in Edward Zwick’s (Glory, Courage Under Fire) little-seen gem Leaving Normal.  Or that she’s an Oscar winning producer/director (Best Short Film, Live Action) for her 1995 short film Lieberman in Love.

Now she’s made the graduation to feature films with My First Mister, a May/December coming of age tale staring Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski.  Picked up for release by Paramount Classics and scheduled to hit theaters in November, Mister is surprisingly effective considering that it never goes anywhere particularly new.  Yet, the first two thirds of the film feel very fresh and the whole film is played to perfection by Sobieski and Brooks despite the conventional trappings Mister ultimately falls to.  Truth told Brooks has never been better and the film's release date leads me to believe that Paramount intends on making an Oscar push for the oft-neglected actor.

Lahti attended the downtown screening of her film and there was a spirited Q&A following its conclusion.  Quick witted and intelligent, it was apparent that the well-regarded actress is very happy with this new career path.  “Unfortunately, the reality of Hollywood is that there are not many very good roles for actresses, especially those at my age,” said Lahti.  “I try to make choices where I will be challenged creatively and directing has allowed me to do that.

“[When] I received [Jill Franklyn’s] script it was only 85 pages at the time.  It was fresh, original, dark, daring and funny.  I knew that it was something I wanted to be a part of and could be a good choice for my first feature film as a director.  [Franklyn and I] worked on [the script] for about a year and as we did I knew it had to be a story I had to tell.”

And did the director ever think of being in the film as she was in her acclaimed short?  “I auditioned myself for the part of Leelee’s mom.  I sucked.  I knew it would [have been] hard to direct myself as a character on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  I was so lucky to find Carol Kane.  Few realize how good an actor she is.  Although, now that the film is finished, I have to say acting is so much easier than directing.”

What of working with Brooks?  How much of his character came off the page and how much was it Brooks improvising?  "We only improvised in rehearsal.  When you have Albert Brooks, you’d be a fool not to improvise.  Mostly we stuck to the script.  A few of his lines made it into the move, but not as many as you would think."

"[Brooks] was not my first choice [for the part,]" said Lahti.  I always saw him as a vulnerable clown who didn't know the dramatic stuff.  [But] he campaigned for the part and as an actress I know what sort of passion that takes [to do].  Passion goes a long way and he really sold himself for this part.  I called James L. Brooks who had directed him in Broadcast News and asked him his thoughts on Albert.  Jim called him a 'closet actor' and after finishing this film I’d have to agree."

Festival Mishaps

The technical mishaps that pop up throughout any film festival can be any festivalgoer’s most frustrating experiences.  When dealing with over 250 films like SIFF is, the more movies you see the more likely you’ll be witness to at least one of them.  At just over 50 films, I’ve now been witness to three, and in two cases they’ve strongly affected my reaction.

My first major glitch encounter was during the initial screening of the Italian biography Princesa.  While I can not imagine enjoying this film under perfect circumstances, it must be said that watching an out-of-synch subtitled film is about as bizarre an experience as there is.  It’s hard to focus on a performance when the subtitles on the screen are one step behind the action, and when characters started speaking with other actor’s voices, I couldn’t help but flash back to Singing in the Rain and that films hysterical audio mix-up set piece.

Worse, though, was my experience Sunday evening with the Russian epic The Captain’s Daughter.  Scatter shot and all over the place, the film played like snapshots of an epic miniseries, large chunks of plot seemingly nonexistent.  It was as if someone decided to film Cliffs Notes, but then omit half of them from the finished project so an already condensed narrative was reduced to incomprehensibility.  It was head-scratchingly bad to be sure, but afterwards I discovered that someone had forgot to include an entire 30-minute real of the movie with the print.  Would those 30 minutes have saved the film?  Would they have turned an awful overture into a spectacular symphony?  Who knows?  I certainly don’t, but I don’t want the answers bad enough to sit through the movie again on Tuesday, that’s for sure.

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