Bohemian Rhapsody
The first of what I hope will be a bunch of reviews for the rest of the year. Looking back, there were way too many notable films that I didn't talk about that I really would like to. That said, let's start things off with a brand new (to South Africa) release that is just begging to be discussed.
For a band with a story as straightforward as Queen, it's sort of astonishing that it took this much time and this much effort to get a proper biopic of the band - though, most especially, the band's enigmatic lead singer - into cinemas. Freddie Mercury was an intriguing guy and extremely talented singer/ frontman but Queen was never exactly the Who in terms of complexity, explosive personalities and self-destructiveness.
Queen came along at such a time that their story really is as simple as a solid band finally finding its voice by hiring the pivotal member that would define their sound and set them on the way to stardom, which would result in the usual sex, drugs, and falling out that would, of course, lead to a very successful reunion and, finally, death. Indeed, beyond the fact that Freddie was a one in a million frontman and a flamboyant but private person, perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Queen is that the rest of the band were a group of undeniably talented but fairly ordinary dudes.
And yet, even with Freddie's complex sexuality, Bohemian Rhapsody has turned out to be a far more controversial film than such a decidedly non-controversial band would seem to deserve. After all, in terms of their hits at the very least, doesn't everybody and their grandmother like Queen?
Bohemian Rhapsody, then unnamed, was announced by the surviving members of Queen way back in 2010 (which means it had been in the planning stages even further back) with Sascha Baron Cohen picked to take on the larger-than-life role of Freddie Mercury and with Dexter Fletcher initially chosen to direct. Within the next few years, Cohen had dropped out due to disagreements with the band (he wanted a warts-and-all, R-rated deep-dive into the band; the band did not) and Dexter Fletcher was replaced by Bryan Singer in the director's chair.
With Rami Malek now on board as Freddie and the rest of the cast filled out with lesser-known but perfectly on-point character actors, things went smoothly for a while until Singer dropped out of the production two-thirds of the way through for... complicated reasons and Dexter Fletcher was once again brought on to finish the final third of the filming and the post-production and editing. Fletcher was always the more natural choice for director anyway, as it so happens, as he has plenty of experience with music-based films after already directing the wonderful Proclaimers musical, Sunshine on Leith, and the upcoming Elton John biopic, Rocketman, which is looking to be either a total masterpiece or a total turkey but almost definitely a unique take on the tried and true musical biopic.
And that's just the production! The controversy surrounding the film certainly didn't stop with its release as it did a reverse Last Jedi, where the critics largely panned it and "average cinema-goers" really loved it. More damningly, the film has been picked apart for its often wild historical inaccuracies and for "straight-washing" Freddie's sexuality.
Personally, I'm mostly with the fans of the film - though I do acknowledge at least some of the criticisms. For a biopic, the film does play just a bit too fast and loose with the facts. It does follow the old rock-biopic route of having the inevitable comedown from stardom resulting in a slightly sluggish late-middle section and it's certainly not afraid of embracing cliche, even at its best. And, yes, it doesn't fully embrace the complexities of Freddie's sexuality but, though it's true that it focuses far more on his relationship with his (ex-)wife, Mary Austin (played here with real warmth and humanity by Lucy Boynton) over his relationships with men, it also "gaywashes" his sexuality at the same time by painting him as almost entirely gay when he was, by all reports, very definitely bisexual.
It is a film that is definitely not without its flaws but it's also a film where the more willing you are to go along with what it is - primarily a celebration of Queen and Freddie Mercury - the more those flaws just don't matter. This does mean that the less you like Queen, the less chance that Bohemian Rhapsody has of working its charm on you but, again, this is the commercialized take on Queen that just about everyone at least quite likes and knows. Hell, Baby Driver features a deeper Queen cut than anything this film!
As a crowd-pleaser, aside for the slow-down in the later parts of the film, it's a total success that is triumphant, funny, moving, and energetic that fully taps into the magic of Queen at their very best. It has a storming lead performance by Rami Malek (he doesn't quite sing Freddie's parts but he kind of does at the same time - it's too involved to get into here but do some research on the subject; it's fascinating), a killer supporting cast and a cameo by Mike Myers that will either having you rolling your eyes at the on-the-nose callback to Wayne's World or have you laughing right along with the film. Indeed, how you react to Myers may well reflect how you will end up feeling about the film itself. That is, if you recognize him in the first place under a whole lot of rather impressive makeup work.
Whatever the film may or may not have gotten right throughout its running time, though, almost falls into irrelevance as it reaches its final climax at Live Aid. This recreation of Queen's show-stealing performance at the largest televised concert ever - a performance that overshadowed the likes of Paul McCartney, the Who, Bob Dylan with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger (Keith and Mick's tumultuous relationship was at an all-time low, hence the lack of the Stones as a group), U2 and Elton John, among many, many others - is nothing short of spectacular. It's a technical marvel that not only captures exactly the look and feel of that historic concert but ends up looking like one of the greatest concert films ever - easily surpassing the real deal, in fact. More importantly, it really is the emotional climax of the film; standing tall as one of the year's most stirring, uplifting and just plain magical cinematic moments of the year.
Those final twenty minutes are so perfect that they alone make Bohemian Rhapsody a must-see. Yes, it's an anesthetized version of the truth; yes it's not above rock biopic cliches; yes it is somewhat lacking in depth but with its heavy doses of movie magic and an unfettered display of the unequaled power of music to move us, it becomes really hard to take against it.
Queen came along at such a time that their story really is as simple as a solid band finally finding its voice by hiring the pivotal member that would define their sound and set them on the way to stardom, which would result in the usual sex, drugs, and falling out that would, of course, lead to a very successful reunion and, finally, death. Indeed, beyond the fact that Freddie was a one in a million frontman and a flamboyant but private person, perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Queen is that the rest of the band were a group of undeniably talented but fairly ordinary dudes.
And yet, even with Freddie's complex sexuality, Bohemian Rhapsody has turned out to be a far more controversial film than such a decidedly non-controversial band would seem to deserve. After all, in terms of their hits at the very least, doesn't everybody and their grandmother like Queen?
Bohemian Rhapsody, then unnamed, was announced by the surviving members of Queen way back in 2010 (which means it had been in the planning stages even further back) with Sascha Baron Cohen picked to take on the larger-than-life role of Freddie Mercury and with Dexter Fletcher initially chosen to direct. Within the next few years, Cohen had dropped out due to disagreements with the band (he wanted a warts-and-all, R-rated deep-dive into the band; the band did not) and Dexter Fletcher was replaced by Bryan Singer in the director's chair.
With Rami Malek now on board as Freddie and the rest of the cast filled out with lesser-known but perfectly on-point character actors, things went smoothly for a while until Singer dropped out of the production two-thirds of the way through for... complicated reasons and Dexter Fletcher was once again brought on to finish the final third of the filming and the post-production and editing. Fletcher was always the more natural choice for director anyway, as it so happens, as he has plenty of experience with music-based films after already directing the wonderful Proclaimers musical, Sunshine on Leith, and the upcoming Elton John biopic, Rocketman, which is looking to be either a total masterpiece or a total turkey but almost definitely a unique take on the tried and true musical biopic.
And that's just the production! The controversy surrounding the film certainly didn't stop with its release as it did a reverse Last Jedi, where the critics largely panned it and "average cinema-goers" really loved it. More damningly, the film has been picked apart for its often wild historical inaccuracies and for "straight-washing" Freddie's sexuality.
Personally, I'm mostly with the fans of the film - though I do acknowledge at least some of the criticisms. For a biopic, the film does play just a bit too fast and loose with the facts. It does follow the old rock-biopic route of having the inevitable comedown from stardom resulting in a slightly sluggish late-middle section and it's certainly not afraid of embracing cliche, even at its best. And, yes, it doesn't fully embrace the complexities of Freddie's sexuality but, though it's true that it focuses far more on his relationship with his (ex-)wife, Mary Austin (played here with real warmth and humanity by Lucy Boynton) over his relationships with men, it also "gaywashes" his sexuality at the same time by painting him as almost entirely gay when he was, by all reports, very definitely bisexual.
It is a film that is definitely not without its flaws but it's also a film where the more willing you are to go along with what it is - primarily a celebration of Queen and Freddie Mercury - the more those flaws just don't matter. This does mean that the less you like Queen, the less chance that Bohemian Rhapsody has of working its charm on you but, again, this is the commercialized take on Queen that just about everyone at least quite likes and knows. Hell, Baby Driver features a deeper Queen cut than anything this film!
As a crowd-pleaser, aside for the slow-down in the later parts of the film, it's a total success that is triumphant, funny, moving, and energetic that fully taps into the magic of Queen at their very best. It has a storming lead performance by Rami Malek (he doesn't quite sing Freddie's parts but he kind of does at the same time - it's too involved to get into here but do some research on the subject; it's fascinating), a killer supporting cast and a cameo by Mike Myers that will either having you rolling your eyes at the on-the-nose callback to Wayne's World or have you laughing right along with the film. Indeed, how you react to Myers may well reflect how you will end up feeling about the film itself. That is, if you recognize him in the first place under a whole lot of rather impressive makeup work.
Whatever the film may or may not have gotten right throughout its running time, though, almost falls into irrelevance as it reaches its final climax at Live Aid. This recreation of Queen's show-stealing performance at the largest televised concert ever - a performance that overshadowed the likes of Paul McCartney, the Who, Bob Dylan with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger (Keith and Mick's tumultuous relationship was at an all-time low, hence the lack of the Stones as a group), U2 and Elton John, among many, many others - is nothing short of spectacular. It's a technical marvel that not only captures exactly the look and feel of that historic concert but ends up looking like one of the greatest concert films ever - easily surpassing the real deal, in fact. More importantly, it really is the emotional climax of the film; standing tall as one of the year's most stirring, uplifting and just plain magical cinematic moments of the year.
Those final twenty minutes are so perfect that they alone make Bohemian Rhapsody a must-see. Yes, it's an anesthetized version of the truth; yes it's not above rock biopic cliches; yes it is somewhat lacking in depth but with its heavy doses of movie magic and an unfettered display of the unequaled power of music to move us, it becomes really hard to take against it.
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