Bohemian Rhapsody: Movie Review
I like watching movies and I like listening to certain kinds of songs. Sometimes I watch musicals but unlike most of Bollywood, I'm happy to enjoy the two separately most of the time. This is different though. It's a movie about songs, some of the most iconic songs of the 20th Century and the men behind them. One man in particular, who possessed prodigious talent and lived a life worth debate - Freddie Mercury from Queen.
This biopic gives a brief insight into the story of Farrokh Bulsara, ie, Freddie Mercury. Born in Tanzania to a Parsi family that then fled to the suburbs of England, Freddie is brought to life by the splendid performance of Rami Malek. Following the man's passion for music, his distinguished dressing sense and how Queen came to be as a band. While some may argue that this part of the story was treated with too much brevity, I find it the perfect directorial choice to keep the film entertaining and not make it into a BBC special documentary.
From their first stage performance at a college gig where Freddie takes apart the mic into what becomes his iconic long-handled-lollipop look to their first successful album, it is a mix of incredible music experienced through modern cinematic sound systems and a montage of creative process. The film showcases a level of ease and open communication between Freddie and his bandmates - lead guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee), drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) and bass-player John Deacon (Joseph Mazello).
The creative process behind the making of the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is a fun part of the movie, one that is shown before the interval. That includes the cameo of Mike Myers as a singular representation of the record label executives who were against the band's song choices, the six-minute long Bohemian Rhapsody single in particular. A lot of the movie also focusses on Freddie's relationship with the love of his life, Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), who was his wife/partner too for some time and his best friend for the rest of it.
In terms of the wild parties involving copious amounts of drugs and homosexual activities, the movie keeps it light while still giving a glimpse at the ravenous appetite of a rock-star like Freddie Mercury and the highs of success enjoyed by Queen. For the most part, it is one of the tamest narratives about one of the biggest rock n roll bands of the millenia- internal squabbles resolved by a love for music, egotistical fights of harsh words and a seemingly immovable calm wit from Deacy. One of the villains from Freddie's life, Paul Prenter was well acted by Allen Leech (an interesting coincidence of real name and character portrayal) which also offers a general life lesson on remembering who your real friends are.
The aspect of Freddie getting himself tested and finding out to be infected by the AIDS virus was handled with tact and a heavy-hearted ay-o. Another character from the singer's life, Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker) was also well cast and given just enough screen time to highlight the importance his role in Mercury's life, particulary towards the end.
But its the last 20 minutes or so that truly make this a biopic worth multiple screenings - Queen's performance at Live Aid, the world's biggest charity concert ever. The best musicians of the era performing together to a worldwide audience, live, and to a full capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium. Any guesses on who outshone them all?
There is also the frankly brilliant idea of having all the lyrics on screen in the movie like a karaoke video for the audience to sing along which I'm sure will happen in countless cinemas across the world. Man I wish I could be part of even one of those screenings.
Credit to Director Bryan Singer and to the writers for putting together 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and creating a highly-entertaining biopic of a man who lived to entertain and enlighten through music itself - Freddie Mercury. I was actually moved to tears by the end, the story and the music with a touch of my own childhood nostalgia leading to an overwhelming level of emotions while listeing to the epic finale concert.
The story is fascinating. The music is epic. The package is brilliant. I'd rate this movie 8 beers out of 10.
Thanks for stopping by, hope you liked what you read and feel free to subscibe to The Sane Lunatic to get updated about my latest content. Cheers!
This biopic gives a brief insight into the story of Farrokh Bulsara, ie, Freddie Mercury. Born in Tanzania to a Parsi family that then fled to the suburbs of England, Freddie is brought to life by the splendid performance of Rami Malek. Following the man's passion for music, his distinguished dressing sense and how Queen came to be as a band. While some may argue that this part of the story was treated with too much brevity, I find it the perfect directorial choice to keep the film entertaining and not make it into a BBC special documentary.
From their first stage performance at a college gig where Freddie takes apart the mic into what becomes his iconic long-handled-lollipop look to their first successful album, it is a mix of incredible music experienced through modern cinematic sound systems and a montage of creative process. The film showcases a level of ease and open communication between Freddie and his bandmates - lead guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee), drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) and bass-player John Deacon (Joseph Mazello).
The creative process behind the making of the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is a fun part of the movie, one that is shown before the interval. That includes the cameo of Mike Myers as a singular representation of the record label executives who were against the band's song choices, the six-minute long Bohemian Rhapsody single in particular. A lot of the movie also focusses on Freddie's relationship with the love of his life, Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), who was his wife/partner too for some time and his best friend for the rest of it.
In terms of the wild parties involving copious amounts of drugs and homosexual activities, the movie keeps it light while still giving a glimpse at the ravenous appetite of a rock-star like Freddie Mercury and the highs of success enjoyed by Queen. For the most part, it is one of the tamest narratives about one of the biggest rock n roll bands of the millenia- internal squabbles resolved by a love for music, egotistical fights of harsh words and a seemingly immovable calm wit from Deacy. One of the villains from Freddie's life, Paul Prenter was well acted by Allen Leech (an interesting coincidence of real name and character portrayal) which also offers a general life lesson on remembering who your real friends are.
The aspect of Freddie getting himself tested and finding out to be infected by the AIDS virus was handled with tact and a heavy-hearted ay-o. Another character from the singer's life, Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker) was also well cast and given just enough screen time to highlight the importance his role in Mercury's life, particulary towards the end.
But its the last 20 minutes or so that truly make this a biopic worth multiple screenings - Queen's performance at Live Aid, the world's biggest charity concert ever. The best musicians of the era performing together to a worldwide audience, live, and to a full capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium. Any guesses on who outshone them all?
There is also the frankly brilliant idea of having all the lyrics on screen in the movie like a karaoke video for the audience to sing along which I'm sure will happen in countless cinemas across the world. Man I wish I could be part of even one of those screenings.
Credit to Director Bryan Singer and to the writers for putting together 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and creating a highly-entertaining biopic of a man who lived to entertain and enlighten through music itself - Freddie Mercury. I was actually moved to tears by the end, the story and the music with a touch of my own childhood nostalgia leading to an overwhelming level of emotions while listeing to the epic finale concert.
The story is fascinating. The music is epic. The package is brilliant. I'd rate this movie 8 beers out of 10.
Thanks for stopping by, hope you liked what you read and feel free to subscibe to The Sane Lunatic to get updated about my latest content. Cheers!
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