Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2008)

Underneath a platinum wig and sparkly makeup, ''internationally ignored'' rock singer Hedwig represents everyone who has ever ached for affection and acceptance. The unlikely heroine, dynamically embodied in Hedwig and the Angry Inch by writer-director John Cameron Mitchell, fronts a pan-Slavic band touring in the shadow of her ex-lover and now-famous protege (Michael Pitt). She touchingly regales crowds with cutting humor and neo-glam/post-punk songs about how, born Hansel in East Berlin, she endured a botched sex change to marry a GI and escape communism, only to end up alone in a Kansas trailer park in search of her ''other half.''

With location shooting, an enlarged cast, and impeccably designed sets, Mitchell broadens the scope of his 1998 Off Broadway hit and sharpens its poetic edge. Lost somewhat on celluloid, the you-are-there energy of the original production can be sampled in the DVD's making-of doc, which extensively details Mitchell's labors of love.

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