This week, a trio of LGBT biopics heads up the home entertainment offerings.
Firs, a couple of Oscar-nominated actors delivering tour de force performances: Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl and Tom Hardy (two of him, actually!) in Legend.
And let’s not forget a look at the gay side of composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky in The Tchaikovsky Files: Confessions Of A Composer.
Now for the trailers and details!
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($34.98 Blu-ray, $29.98 DVD; Universal)
Another year, another Eddie Redmayne Oscar-bait performance in a biopic! To follow up his winning turn as Stephen Hawking in 2014’s The Theory of Everything, Redmayne took on the role of Danish landscape painter Einar Wegener, who went on to become Lili Elbe, the first male-to-female transgender individual to receive sexual reassignment surgery, while fellow artist/wife Gerda not only stood by her love, but painted her. Alicia Vikander snagged the Best Supporting Actress statue for playing Gerda. Extras include a making-of featurette.
($26.98 Blu-ray, $29.98 DVD; Universal)
Tom Hardy delivers two standout performances as the real-life UK mobster twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray (yes, the ones Morrissey references in “The Last of the Famous International Playboys”), the latter of whom was gay. Set during the Krays’ 1960s heyday, this follows the pair as they cause some ruckus around town, while Reggie’s beloved, Frances, tries to inject some morality. Hardy is amazing in both roles, with his changes in body language, looks, and speaking manners, and Ronnie is anything but a stereotype and shockingly open about his sexuality. Extras include a making of featurette and commentary track.
The Tchaikovsky Files: Confessions Of A Composer
($17.99 DVD: EuroArts)
Legendary Russian Swan Lake composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky led a closeted, repressed life during the 19th Century, which now gets explored in this almost Derek Jarman-esque documentary-narrative. Interviews with dance and music experts are intermingled with letters and episodes from his life — albeit set in the present. Intriguing stuff, and educational to boot.
ALSO OUT:
Mexican Men
The Room
Creed
Miss You Already
All Roads Lead To Rome
Childhood’s End
