Bohemian Rhapsody

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I saw this film this morning and enjoyed it quite a bit. While I wouldn't say that I'm a Queen fan (other than Freddy Mercury, I couldn't name a member of the band before seeing the movie), I do enjoy several of their songs. It is the music that makes the film.

[N13]

Just saw the movie. Enjoyed it but with one reservation...... Rami Malek. He does a creditable job as a confused rock star, but, in no way does he evoke Freddie Mercury. Mercury was a force. Malek is only a presence. It made me want to watch my Queen videos.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Just saw the movie. Enjoyed it but with one reservation...... Rami Malek. He does a creditable job as a confused rock star, but, in no way does he evoke Freddie Mercury. Mercury was a force. Malek is only a presence. It made me want to watch my Queen videos.

 

Malek, like any actor, has an uphill battle when playing this kind of iconic role. I think he did a fantastic job considering.

 

It's a little like how the ghost of Garland will always haunt A Star Is Born: Some say her performance will never be topped.

[N13]

 

It's the 'considering' that bothers me. I thought he was too lightweight - both physically and in his interpretation.

[Larstrup]

It was blasphemy from the beginning. Props to Malek though for even trying.

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Larstrup

[Larstrup]

I did see it, and for me was the best one I've ever seen that's over 2 hours long. I'm glad I didn't know the length beforehand, or I wouldn't have bothered.

 

It was nice to see the lead singer could succeed in converting a lustful personal relationship into a platonic one. That's too impossible of a challenge for nearly everybody.

 

His personal story was horribly destorted and depicted in this film. That’s all you need to know.

[N13]

Just watched the video from Live Aid. OMG! It really points up the difference between one of the talents of the ages and a very minor impersonation. Play the real concert and the Hollywood version side by side to see (and hear) the difference. The hype for Malek is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Garland, Streisand and Gaga are all major talents and their "Star is Born", even when compared to each other, has true talent to carry each version.

[Chuckball]

I had little knowledge of Freddy Mercury since I am not really a music fan. I became interested in Freddy Mercury when I visited the Montreux Riviera on Lake Geneva a few summers ago. There is a huge bronze statue of Mercury holding a microphone shaft in his left hand and his right fist in the air. Even years after his death, people still adorn the statue with freshly cut flowers. I, therefore, liked the movie because it gave me background on the man and the group as well as entertaining me with a version of the LiveAid concert that is really a concert to conclude the movie. I liked Malek who took over the role from Sasha Baron Cohen and the direction of the movie even though the named director was fired halfway through.

[Stormy]

Did anyone notice that the rest of the band were depicted as the sane ones? No excessive alcohol, drugs womanizing. They were a little too vanilla. Wonder if it had anything to do with them producing the movie?

[+ quoththeraven]

Boosted by singalong showings and repeat visits, Bohemian Rhapsody has earned more at the box office in South Korea than in any country other than the US. (Yes, more than in the UK.)

 

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190107006500315?section=features/features#none

 

Singing along at pop concerts is standard in South Korea, so the popularity of singalong shows isn't surprising. I've seen surprise expressed at the popularity of the movie given the stigma attached to AIDS there, especially among devout Christians, who make up 25-30% of the population, but South Koreans' opinions of singers -- foreign ones especially -- tend to focus on their music to the exclusion of everything else. Queen's music is well-known and popular in South Korea. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured on the TV show Immortal Songs 2, in which current pop artists (particularly those who aren't well known) reinterpret classic songs, back in 2014.

Because of Bohemian Rhapsody's popularity, two of the three year-end network broadcast music festivals included covers of songs by Queen. This was probably the more dynamic of the two of them:

(Notice the audience is singing along to the chorus, unprompted.)

[samhexum]

When Freddie Mercury made his final on-camera appearance in the music video for “These Are the Days of Our Lives” in 1991, AIDS had left him gaunt and frail. The Queen frontman could barely walk because of open wounds on his foot, part of which would later be amputated. But as Austrian filmmaker Rudi Dolezal (I hope he doesn't have a sister named Rachel), who shot the video, recalls, he still insisted on doing his job.

 

“The band’s manager, Jim Beach, said I had to cut down the number of takes,” Dolezal tells The Post from his home in Miami. “But Freddie didn’t want special treatment. If you watch ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives,’ he’s doing it standing up even though he was in great pain, because he didn’t want to hold anyone up, or be difficult. To me, the way he managed his illness in working situations like that, made him an even bigger superstar.”

 

Mercury’s struggle with AIDS is left largely untouched by the Golden Globe-winning “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which charts the rise of Mercury and his Queen bandmates Roger Taylor (drums), John Deacon (bass) and Brian May (guitar). The biopic stands to earn more acclaim — especially for Rami Malek’s stirring lead performance — when the Oscar nominations are announced Tuesday. The movie ends with the band’s triumphant 1985 Live Aid performance at London’s Wembley Stadium, but for Dolezal that was when things truly got interesting.

 

“They wanted to capitalize on the show, so they asked me to do the video for their single ‘One Vision’ in 1985,” says Dolezal, now 60. “That was the first time they hired me. I ended up doing around 30 videos for the band and their solo projects.”

 

Dolezal first met the band when he was a young TV reporter in his native Vienna, during the mid-1970s. He diligently sent Queen his interview segments on the band, complete with his contact details, and became even closer with Mercury when the singer lived in Munich in the early ’80s. “Freddie was very happy in Munich because no one bothered him and, to be completely honest, he loved the gay scene there,” says Dolezal, whose 2000 BBC documentary, “Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story,” was nominated for a Grammy.

 

Eventually, Mercury moved back to London and settled with hairdresser Jim Hutton. In public, Mercury was flamboyant and larger than life, but in private, Dolezal remembers something very different. “He was the greatest housewife you can imagine,” he says. “Freddie invited me to his private functions often, and, at one dinner party, the guests included Rod Stewart and Elton John. I remember there was a lot of bitching about other artists, and about themselves. I think Rod came up with the idea of forming a group called Nose, Teeth & Hair, because Rod had a big nose, Elton had problems with his hair and Freddie had his teeth!”

 

On another occasion, Mercury’s hospitality went above and beyond the call of duty. “I was getting very friendly with one of Queen’s backing vocalists, and she and I decided to go somewhere — just the two of us. Freddie realized that and said ‘OK, you can use my guest bedroom,’ and went upstairs and put in new linen on the beds for us himself. As a host, he really took care of you.”

 

The partying grew less frequent once Mercury was diagnosed in 1987. As depicted in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” he told only his closest allies, insisting it was never to be discussed further. (Dolezal found out only after one of Mercury’s former partners, German actress Barbara Valentin, let it slip.) Instead, Mercury plowed on with his work, and Queen released “The Miracle” in 1989 and “Innuendo” in 1991. It was during the making of the latter in Montreux, Switzerland, that Dolezal says Mercury decided to cease his primitive AIDS treatment.

 

“The side effects were horrid,” says Dolezal. “The pills were so big you could hardly swallow [them], and you would be throwing up all the time.”

 

In his final weeks, Mercury was confined to the bedroom of his London house in the tony Kensington neighborhood, and it was apparently Dolezal’s work that kept him in high spirits. “I was told by one his assistants that Freddie watched my videos for ‘I’m Going Slightly Mad’ and ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’ all the time,” recalls the director, growing tearful. Even when ill, he says, Mercury was enthusiastic: “He would say, ‘Play it again, play it again.’ ”

 

Mercury issued a statement confirming he had contracted AIDS and died just a day later on Nov. 24, 1991. He was 45.

 

Dolezal is writing a book titled “My Friend, Freddie” about his experiences (due out later this year) and plans to release unedited versions of his interviews with Mercury in a new film, “Freddie Mercury: In His Own Words.”

 

With so much of Mercury’s extraordinary life left uncovered, it opens the door to another “Bohemian Rhapsody” film, with Brian May telling Classic Rock magazine there “might” be a sequel.

 

“I think it would be a brilliant idea,” says Dolezal, who earned critical acclaim for his 2017 documentary on Whitney Houston, “Can I Be Me,” co-directed by Nick Broomfield. “He had so many adventures, you could probably do four movies!”

 

 

Edited January 18, 2019 by samhexum

[+ E.T.Bass]

Did anyone notice that the rest of the band were depicted as the sane ones? No excessive alcohol, drugs womanizing. They were a little too vanilla. Wonder if it had anything to do with them producing the movie?

Perhaps the band's involvement helped avoid Hollywood sending the story off the rails.

I got the sense in the movie that Roger Taylor was a noble hot head, that he took the split especially hard, and that he and FM had an unspoken bond.

 

Not a perfect movie, but it really rocked. I loved it. The film was beautifully shot. I recommend seeing it at a movie theater. I'd see it again.

 

Rami Malek was superb. If he doesn't get nominated for an Oscar, will be a tremendous snub.

 

Box office worldwide is approaching $800,000,000, with huge numbers in Japan and S Korea.

 

Box Office Estimates

 

[samhexum]

Brian May is a relatively household name, but I couldn't name anyone else.

Just saw the movie. Enjoyed it but with one reservation...... Rami Malek.

Malek, like any actor, has an uphill battle when playing this kind of iconic role. I think he did a fantastic job considering.

It was blasphemy from the beginning. Props to Malek though for even trying.

I did see it, and for me was the best one I've ever seen that's over 2 hours long. I'm glad I didn't know the length beforehand, or I wouldn't have bothered.

Just watched the video from Live Aid. OMG! It really points up the difference between one of the talents of the ages and a very minor impersonation.

Well, Brian May - the astrophysicist - didn’t smoke, was a vegetarian, and had kids. Not a lot of hedonism there.

Boosted by singalong showings and repeat visits, Bohemian Rhapsody has earned more at the box office in South Korea than in any country other than the US. (Yes, more than in the UK.)

Perhaps the band's involvement helped avoid Hollywood sending the story off the rails.

 

 

Edited January 22, 2019 by samhexum

[+ SundayZip]

I finally saw the movie today and loved it. I went into the movie liking Rami Malek and left liking him even more. All I knew of Freddie Mercury before the movie was that he was a fabulous singer, had big front teeth and died of aids (and wore his pants way too tight). As for Queen, I knew their biggest hits of course, but not much else about them. So the movie and Malek's performance had no impossible benchmark for me to measure it against. I enjoyed every minute of it.

[+ E.T.Bass]

I finally saw the movie today and loved it. I went into the movie liking Rami Malek and left liking him even more. All I knew of Freddie Mercury before the movie was that he was a fabulous singer, had big front teeth and died of aids (and wore his pants way too tight). As for Queen, I knew their biggest hits of course, but not much else about them. So the movie and Malek's performance had no impossible benchmark for me to measure it against. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Same here. I knew Rami Malek was good from Mr. Robot. The whole movie was good. At the Arclight in Pasadena no one moved when the credits rolled, as if we all needed to take a breath, and then we were rewarded with clips of queen. So good.

Edited January 25, 2019 by E.T.Bass