As my movie companion noted after we saw Bohemian Rhapsody, a jolly time! (Okay, so that was part my fabulous company as we spent a few hours after the movie catching up over lunch and a few beers, but the movie was a great time too!) Really, though, there’s little I had to complain about watching Bohemian Rhapsody.
As a biopic of Freddie Mercury and the band Queen (more of the former than the latter), the movie is fun. On the surface, it is not dark or complicated or mysterious or even that layered. Instead, it’s easy to view as a nostalgic trip back into the 70s and 80s while learning about the legend that was Mercury.
Eight months ago, I suspect had you asked me where the band Queen was from, I would not have known. (I don’t keep up with these things.) I knew the lead singer Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar; I had a drink at the seaside bar named after him in Stonetown back in ’07. (Yes, it is quite surprising that Zanzibar would so embrace Mercury as its son, but money and fame go a long way eh?) Of course I listened to Queen’s music in high school, but I really knew little more about Mercury or about the band’s rise to that key 1985 Live Aid performance. What an interesting story.
Okay, so I say the film isn’t layered, but I say that because of the time we’re in and who I am. And I say that only of the surface for many. This film would have been radical had it been released over a quarter century ago shortly after Mercury’s death. I think the story of Mercury would have shocked too much at that time. Today, however, I think society as a whole can watch this film for an appreciation of musical greatness. I believe many can also watch the presentation of Mercury’s life with more compassion and openness. Yes, Mercury’s life was complicated as he learned who he was and how to be true to himself. No doubt that truth (and Mercury’s voice, range, and vibrato!) blessed the rest of us with great music.
After seeing the movie, I did dig a little. Although the movie holds mostly true to happenings in Mercury’s life, it also plays pretty fast and loose with the timeline. Many things were rearranged for dramatic effect and to make the story flow better. And some things portrayed in the movie were simply made up. On the other hand, what fun to learn the background to some actual things – such as the accidental story about his microphone (again, this was probably mistimed in the movie, but the accidental nature of this becoming his microphone did occur). Timeline and added story elements aside, though, watching Rami Malek becomeMercury, particularly on that 1985 stage, it was hard by that point in the movie to separate Malek from Mercury. That felt real no matter what the timeline was.
Rami Malek’s performance stuns and awes. As a dramatic performance, just the expressions on his face during that portrayed Live Aid performance told most of the story the movie was telling. (Granted, this is one of those rearranged bits of reality. Mercury wasn’t diagnosed until a couple of years afterLive Aid, and what the movie depicts as happening leading up to the concert did not actually happen.) Sometimes when an actor takes the role of a real person, it looks only like imitation. Here, it was more. Malek was believable as Mercury.
Bohemian Rhapsody won its Best Picture category at the Globes. Malek took Best Actor at both the Globes and the SAG awards. Given the film is partly a British film, I’m particularly interested in how it will perform with BAFTA on February 10 (the film has seven nominations across the pond compared to five from the Academy). (Having just seen The Favourite, though, I do not imagine Bohemian Rhapsody will receive Best British Film from BAFTA.) (The Bohemian Rhapsody nomination has been further sullied by allegations against the director.) My prediction for the elusive Oscar? I don’t pretend to understand the technical awards (sometimes something is so WOW as to capture my attention there (such as visual effects in Gravity), but usually the technical awards are, well, more technical than what I pay attention to), and I don’t see this as Best Picture. But Malek? I wouldn’t be surprised at all if his name is called.