God Save The Queen

I guess our take on Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) is pretty much the same as everyone else’s: extremely ordinary biopic, extraordinary performance by Rami Malek.

Malek plays a Parsi immigrant in England, working as a baggage handler. He goes to the pub to see the local band Smile, and approaches them after the show. They’ve lost their lead singer, and he reckons he could be the replacement they need. They look at his overbite, and don’t think he’d fit in to a band called Smile - but he gives them a sample and tells them that his extra teeth give him extra vocal range. Later, they rename the band Queen.

I’ll skip over the touring, the recording, the problems with Freddie’s traditional Parsi family, problems with management, Freddie’s love life, or his sexual orientation. All of these are covered, with a concentration on the sex and drugs and empty hedonism that can be part of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. At least, in these biopics it always is. This is all pretty conventional, although well done.

But Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury is amazing. The only thing we’d seen him in was silly video game movie Need for Speed, where he plays the guy who quits his job by stripping nude. Here, he has a silly dental prosthesis, and completely seems to inhabit Mercury. We get a lot of great songs - and I’m not a big Queen fan.

I also liked Gwilym Lee as Brian May, although it wasn’t much of a part. In fact, one of my favorite parts was that the whole band pretty much just went along with what Freddie was putting down. Very positive and supportive even when they were fighting.

In conclusion, a digression: when I was in high school (~1972), there was a discussion on the school bus about whether Queen was gay. My position was, no, just outrageous. Nobody called Mick Jagger gay, did they? Or David Bowie? Also, who cares? We just wanted to know if they rocked. And they did.