Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody joins the recent glut of music bio-pics. It follows the formation of Queen and culminates in their performance at Live Aid, no spoilers as the film opens with this. While there is no doubt that much of this film is about queen and their rise, the film’s protagonist is Freddie Mercury and the story is his.
The screenwriter, Anthony McCarten, told this dual narrative well. We see Freddie go through a fairly typical hero’s journey path. We also see Queen go through their journey. But they are not the same journeys. While the do parallel at points, such as the creation of Queen and Freddie becoming the performer we will always remember, there are parts in this film that are Freddie’s alone. McCarten was nominated for Best Screenplay for AACTA and Outstanding film at the BAFTAs
The highlight of this film is Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie. Malek rightly won the Oscar for his dedicated portrayal of the iconic musician. All the preparation time he spent researching and doing singing and dancing classes for the role paid off. He worked closely with Polly Bennett, a movement coach, who helped Malek capture the spontaneity of Freddie.
Becoming Freddie
I cannot stress how brilliant Malek was. He was powerful and spontaneous and an all round brilliant performer. He inhabited the role and became Freddie. While the big performances on tour culminating in the Live Aid concert were spectacular they are not the best part of the performance.
The best part of Malek’s performance is his portrayal of Freddie’s vulnerability. There are times in this film where Freddie is complete alone. He isn’t understood by his family, he has no friends, and with false bravado he spurns the band.
In these moments your heart breaks for Freddie as you can feel the loneliness and vulnerability through Malek’s masterful performance. There is just so much going on inside Freddie and Malek allows it to ripple to the surface. It’s beautiful to watch.
What is Littlefinger doing at EMI Records?
Aidan Gillen (GOT) plays John Reid, one of the producers from EMI. I haven’t seen Gillen in too many roles (The Dark Knight Rises, The Wire, GOT). While he plays a relativly straight shooting good guy in The Wire I feel that his role in this film is too coloured by his role as Littlefinger in GOT.
In Bohemian Rhapsody you aren’t sure where his loyalties lie and I was always thinking that he was going to sell the band out, despite always taking action to the contrary. In the end he is himself sold out. Perhaps this is a good performance but I feel that it is more coloured (for me) by the role he is best known for in GOT.
Was the music any good?
The performances of the songs is brilliant film making and I am not surprised with the slew of awards and nominations the sound team received. Through them you see Queen’s progression as a band and Freddie’s progression as a performer. They also tell great stories about where songs came from and how they were made.
The most notable for me were Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and Under Pressure. The development of these songs is exciting and super important for progression of the films narrative.
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