Bohemian Rhapsody

I was never a Queen fan. For me, their music was synonymous with the cinematic Highlander, and when the name Freddie Mercury was mentioned, the most that came to mind was a duet with Montserrat Caballé. But I respect a film that conveys so much energy with such certainty. The final half-hour of the Live Aid concert is a great idea. Why complicate something that works? Wasn't the reality a little more complicated? That could be another movie in and of itself. (26/07/2019)

Yeah, it was alright. While Bohemian Rhapsody is at first glance the prototypical film that misses me by a thousand miles (a musical, a biopic gay drama) is a bit of the opposite of my favorite (horror, action, thriller), but oddly enough I saw the film and I’m alive and well. Rami Malek overacts a bit too much for my taste, but he and Freddie are very similar in appearance and he doesn't do a shameful job for a second-rate actor. Story-wise, there's not much of interest and the only strong moment comes in the final performance at Wembley, which is definitely good. I certainly won't see it again, but I was expecting suffering and in the end I got a fairly watchable film. 60%. (18/03/2019)

Finally, a movie that packed the cinema with regulars as well as occasional viewers. A hit that was destined to be a hit. The story of a band, which was destined to be legendary and unique from the very beginning. Queen is actually like that and I have been waiting for many years to see somebody pick up their story and film it in a personal way that feels good. Bryan Singer felt it exactly as I hoped. I could talk about its pros, but also cons. I could talk about the good, but also weaker moments. There are points of the plot of the movie, which I don’t really understand, but on the other hand, there are also points which made me think about what Freddie was possibly like and what sort of life he lived. On the next day, I agreed with my coworkers that the movie is actually very conciliatory as far as Freddie’s life is concerned. I believe that the true reality was much worse… harsher. However, the story oozes a great deal of humility. It also shows the great respect of the whole band for the man who grew up with them and who is for me the greatest singer of the century. That may be one of the reasons why I am giving it five stars and I am unable to rate it differently. You can feel the precision and emphasis on details, which I am sometimes missing in other biopics. It conceals the soul of a perfect story, which has not been seen for a long time and probably won’t be seen for a long while. (08/11/2018)

Singer mechanically cycles through human dramas, studies, and live performances that in parts are brimming with energy, oozing from all sides - from the excellent actors, through the camera and editing, to the last precisely-aimed spotlight. Otherwise, the 130 minutes slip by like a missed chance to go beyond the edge of a slick biopic that suits the screen. But the fact that the audience, regardless of age and musical taste, sits down to watch it in droves means above all that the effort to please absolutely everyone has succeeded perfectly. However, if it wasn’t for the brilliant music (and I say this as someone who is not that fond of it), it's a seasonal dud. Fortunately, it's about the music, and I won't hide the fact that it moved me. (09/12/2018)

No one in the world can accuse me of not being a fan, because there probably isn’t another band in my life that I was into as much as Queen. I didn't listen to anything else for a few years. I absorbed the songs, lyrics, concerts, and I read the biographies. That's probably why Bohemian Rhapsody seems like very lazy history research to me, and it was also very much castrated by the living members of the band. All that remains is the flimsy story of a naughty child and a trio of his dads who try to protect him from evil in the form of a disgusting version of Tom of Finland and his party of gay friends in leather. It was supposed to be a portrait of deep solitude, but it is just a superficial and poorly-motivated collection of weakly told stories. All in all, I can deal with the fact that the film dismisses everything dark (sexuality, drugs) in almost a puritanical vein, if it at least offered more than sitcom figures and a lot of awkwardly arranged scenes (will anyone really be satisfied with a theatrically lit and Highlander song tinted scene from the AIDS center in 2018? Obviously they will...). The film is kept above water by excellent editing and also the fact that it has a rhythm typical for this type of genre. At Live Aid, you can feel that Singer quite enjoyed it. In some scenes, I had the feeling that the director was either sleeping or didn't arrive. The paradox is that a perfect product was created because of all those blind spots. He gives people a genius without everything that was outrageous about him and preserves Queen’s pathetic halo of stadium entertainers. Only Roger was a bit of a naughty womanizer. But you know how it is with those guys... (09/11/2018)