Movie Review

Oscar-bait film The Danish Girl doesn’t live up to its potential

Every year, there are so-called “prestige” movies that get hyped because of the presence of previous award winners. The Danish Girl is a perfect example, because it is directed by Tom Hooper, who won an Oscar for The King’s Speech, and stars Eddie Redmayne, who won the Best Actor Oscar just last year for The Theory of Everything.

It’s also a clear case of Oscar bait, as Redmayne plays Danish artist Einar Wegener, who was married to fellow artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander). The film shows them making their individual marks on the 1920s European art world, supporting each other no matter what obstacles come their way.

The biggest obstacle occurs when Einar decides that he is not comfortable in his own skin and would like to start living life as a woman. What starts off as somewhat of a lark turns into something much deeper, and Einar — who changes names to Lili Elbe — explores a relationship outside of marriage and contemplating becoming the first person to ever undergo gender reassignment surgery.

Hooper and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon attempt to show how Einar’s transition into Lili was a gradual one, but something about the process feels off from the start. It’s not that the transition is not believable, but more that the relationship between Einar/Lili and Gerda feels less than authentic.

As the two come to grips with the presence of Lili, their relationship ebbs and flows. But their interactions often feel stilted, as if Hooper and Coxon are forcing a feel-good narrative onto a story that might not have been as chummy as they make it out to be.

Then there’s the idea that, despite taking place entirely in countries where English is not the dominant language, nothing but English is spoken. Heck, there’s hardly an attempt to have the actors use their characters’ native accents. Not a lick of Danish is spoken, not even for scene-setting purposes.

None of this is the fault of Redmayne or Vikander, who deliver lovely performances, though perhaps not as great as others would have you believe. Redmayne gets back into our good graces after the abomination that was Jupiter Ascending, while Vikander continues her rise that started with Ex Machina.

Stories about transgender people are growing by leaps and bounds in film and television nowadays, and a movie about one of the first well-known transgender women had the potential to be compelling. But the necessary emotional connection never comes.

Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl.

Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl.

Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."

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