Bohemian Rhapsody

[queenofthehours]

Bohemian Rhapsody won twice last night at the Golden Globes. Best film and best actor for the wonderful Rami Malek!

Just look at Brian, he's like a proud father, look at him beaming .

[queenofthehours]

Is this not one of the nicest photos to start the year with?

http://instagr.am/p/BsVPtGAh6Uh

[BSJ]

Very cool, Brian!

[queenofthehours]

Jimmy Kimmel interviews Rami. Worth watching just to see his reaction to Jimmy's daft Macca question half way through -

"I can't believe they are my friends" -

The sincerity of Rami, in fact the genuineness that comes across from the whole Bohemian Rhapsody production, is something to admire. Not many people in Brian and Roger's position would take as much interest as they have in the movie. They seem to have been around on set most of the time and are clearly supporting Rami and the production during awards season. The part I find most lovely is the closeness and friendship that has developed between Rami and Queen which shows that this is far more than just another acting role for him. He obviously admires the band and to know that there is a bond between them makes this movie a rarity.

I think that there's something of Jeff Lynne in Rami Malek. He comes across as a humble, lovely person. A bit of an adorkable fanboy who can't believe he has been lucky enough to work with his heroes never mind make friends with them. He seems very innocent and private too - even Jeff has more instagram posts than Rami who has a grand total of three pictures even after the Golden Globes.

Also, something that amuses me greatly is that Lady Ga Ga lost out to BoRhap in the best picture category - but she shouldn't be upset, after all she got her name from a Queen song!

[Helmut83]

I finally saw it last Sunday. Good movie, worth the time at the cinema. The physical resemblances of the actors were remarkable.

[queenofthehours]

The wonderful Rami Malek won best actor at the SAG awards last night -

I love Rami's jacket, maybe Freddie would wear something like this today? Smart yet different.

[queenofthehours]

Rami Malek won his BAFTA last night -

[queenofthehours]

I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody before Christmas, again in late January and again a fortnight later. I’m going once more for my birthday in March. I don’t think that’s excessive do you? I’ve heard of people going to see BoRhap ten or twenty times. However, I wasn’t initially bothered about seeing it. I’m cautious of biopics and felt I knew as much as I needed to about Queen and Freddie Mercury. Also, I didn’t want to see anything disrespectful to Fred because goodness knows the band have had more than their share of people digging around in their story for the most scandalous tales. But I reckon it was Timeblue 's comment about Wembley and the connection to ELO which finally got me to the multiplex.

It’s definitely a film made for a big screen – you can’t see the quality of the cinematography or hear the loudness of the music or experience all the emotions at home with a tiny telly. You need to see it at the cinema if only to experience the Wembley scenes at their best – the camerawork really does make you feel as if you are there. I don’t think it’s possible to see BoRhap and not want to clap along to ‘Radio Ga Ga’. And if you are not close to a major emotional moment at the end credits you have no heart!

I’d say BoRhap is one of the, if not the best, music films I’ve ever seen. It isn’t anything fancy, it doesn’t really have any gimmicks – to me it’s as if makers have taken the common tropes used in rock movies and polished them so that the result is both familiar and fresh. It is better to be familiar when telling a tale like Queen’s as they are not a complicated band so you don’t need to go all experimental. The cinematography was wonderful. There were so many little details it’s impossible to list them here but I loved the wallpaper and the clothes and the bright colours. In fact everything looked so old fashioned compared to today’s modern love for dark and gloomy films with actors muttering. BoRhap was loud and colourful – an old-fashioned movie but with modern techniques to make it fresh.

Some moments that stood out for me, aside from the terrific Wembley finale, were “You look like an angry lizard”, the recording of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the creation of ‘We Will Rock You’ and the moment John starts playing ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. I love that each member got some time onscreen for us to appreciate the songs that they individually wrote – good scenes too. I think the other members are vastly underappreciated, particularly John and the film proved that Brian deserves respect, Roger is not invisible behind his kit and that John should be given appreciation and recognition. Also, until now I never really thought too much about Fred’s teeth, now I see them as a character in their own right.

I liked the scene where Freddie stops work at Heathrow to look at the suitcase with all the travel stickers on. It was a nice piece of characterisation and it was also the moment I fell in love with Rami Malek as Fred. One of the saddest scenes for me was when Freddie switches on his light and looks up at Mary’s window and there is no light in return. BoRhap has given me many things to think about. I never thought of Queen as glam-rock before, I've become acquainted with some new songs and I’ve also developed a bit of an obsession with Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor.

What really made the film work for me was that they used relatively unknown actors for the band. I’ve never seen Rami Malek before in my life and Joe Mazzello was only a child when he was in Jurassic Park. Sure, I spent a good deal of the film thinking “that’s Peter Beale up there next to the Sergeant from Midsomer Murders” but the lack of a huge star in the starring role let the story speak for itself without distraction. I can’t imagine anyone else in any of the parts; a rarity with biopics, the casting was spot on. “Brian” and “John” look more like Brian and John than the real ones do! Gwilym was perfect as Bri from his look and voice right down to his calming, motherly tone and the nervous finger tapping. My new favourite actor is Rami Malek, I’ll be excited to see what he does next. I hope that after he wins his Oscar he’ll make some good choices but then anybody who has 2.2 million followers on Instagram yet has only posted three pictures must have their head screwed on right.

It’s not important that Rami looks like Freddie. He doesn’t look UNLIKE Freddie and perhaps matches him best at the end but even real Fred didn’t look like himself at the beginning. Nobody will ever match Freddie perfectly but the film is so well-made that you WANT to believe Rami really is Fred. Freddie has different eyes but I think it’s an advantage to Rami because his eyes are larger and more expressive - all the better to convey emotion. Anyway, there are some things that matter more than looks when making a movie like this such as respect and dedication. You can see this in work that Rami put into becoming Freddie, in his admiration for him, the sincerity he has when receiving awards and the deference he gives Roger and Brian. Rami quite clearly has a high regard and love for Queen and you only have to look at pictures from the Golden Globes to see that Roger and Brian feel the same way about Rami too.

Ok so the timeline and was a bit distorted (I’m no Queen expert but I did know ‘We Will Rock You’ wasn’t made in the 80s!) but who cares? The film got the facts wrong not through neglect, but because it was a movie. It’s a biopic not a documentary, a film not reality. Whatever inaccuracies there were in BoRhap were more than made up for in the tiny details that littered the film from the many cameos right down to the pinball machine and the word Mack on the front of the truck. The critics complain that the film leaves a lot out but if the film was totally true it would be too serious and Queen never took themselves seriously. Would Freddie want a serious film or an entertaining movie? Surely he would want the focus on the music and not himself.

[unomusette]

Perfect review there I'd say, can't disagree with any of it.

I think you nailed it when you pointed out that what makes the film work is that most of the actors, and all the main characters, are not big stars. It means you're not distracted by other parts they've played and can really accept them as the Queen members.

Also spot on is your praise for the immensity of the Wembley scenes - hugely emotional, perfectly created and such a blast to see on a massive cinema screen with top notch sound.

Just as Bat Out Of Hell spent years in the charts, Bo Rhap ought to be in a cinema in every town for the forseeable future, so we can always nip in to be inspired by it.

[Grroosss]

Wonderful summary and analysis, queenofthehours, I heartily agree with everything you said. I’m not much of a movie-goer; Bohemian Rhapsody is the only movie I can recall recently going to see that wasn’t a sci-fi/fantasy action film from a franchise I’m already a fan of. I was very excited to see it, and ended up loving it even more than I thought I would—though there were some emotional moments I found it to be a very feel-good movie, a welcome change of pace from the darker action films, and I left the cinema with a huge smile on my face which lasted the rest of the night. 

Feb 20, 2019 21:28:32 GMT queenofthehours said:

It’s definitely a film made for a big screen – you can’t see the quality of the cinematography or hear the loudness of the music or experience all the emotions at home with a tiny telly. You need to see it at the cinema if only to experience the Wembley scenes at their best – the camerawork really does make you feel as if you are there.

I first went to see it in November with a friend, and I was completely blown away by the experience in the cinema with its sound system, especially during the Wembley scenes—so much so, that I took my family to see it with me again when I went home for Christmas, insisting that they see it on the big screen in all its glory!

Ok so the timeline and was a bit distorted (I’m no Queen expert but I did know ‘We Will Rock You’ wasn’t made in the 80s!) but who cares? The film got the facts wrong not through neglect, but because it was a movie. It’s a biopic not a documentary, a film not reality. Whatever inaccuracies there were in BoRhap were more than made up for in the tiny details that littered the film from the many cameos right down to the pinball machine and the word Mack on the front of the truck. The critics complain that the film leaves a lot out but if the film was totally true it would be too serious and Queen never took themselves seriously. Would Freddie want a serious film or an entertaining movie? Surely he would want the focus on the music and not himself.

I loved all the little fun facts that they threw in! I, too, was not bothered by the distorted timeline or lack of ‘seriousness’ for the sake of being a movie rather than a documentary. After all, as Freddie said: “You can do whatever you like with my image, my music, remix it, re-release it, whatever... just never make me boring” —and I’d say that the film certainly didn’t let him down!

[queenofthehours]

Feb 20, 2019 23:11:20 GMT Grroosss said:

After all, as Freddie said: “You can do whatever you like with my image, my music, remix it, re-release it, whatever... just never make me boring” —and I’d say that the film certainly didn’t let him down!

Exactly! BoRhap is the perfect movie to respect what Freddie said. It's the critics who are trying to pour cold water all over it, how can they say it isn't a fitting film for Fred? Have they ever actually listened to him?

The movie has made a lot of people very happy which really seems to get right up the critics noses. The same with Queen - very popular yet critics hated them so it's nice to see that the movie is keeping up the tradition!

[nobodyschild]

I’ve only seen this movie once in the cinemas but I just have to say it was the best movie I have seen in a long time. I love the attention to detail and the care they took with it. Also they matched the actors so well to the people they were portraying. Honestly I forget sometimes that the actors and moments in the movie weren’t the real band. It was very good, very emotional, and also uplifting, all in all a beautiful film. I agree with what everyone’s said here, so no use in writing a novel of a review here. But I will say I loved the genuineness of the film and the friendship Rami developed with Brian and Roger. It was so cool to see them all be so invested in it, and that they were on set practically all the time. So they messed up the timeline a bit but it didn’t really bother me. The critics are only picking on that because really there’s not a lot to pick on. I loved the fun spirit the movie had, I felt it was true to the band and to Freddie. I loved the little moment where the band was arguing over whether “I’m in Love With My Car” was a good enough song but all arguing ceased when the coffee pot got dragged into it. Not the coffee pot! The film made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me want to get up and sing and it blew me away. I was skeptical at first, I was worried they were going to mess up history as films so often do, but it exceeded every expectation and Rami is so deserving of every award. Bummer it’s not in theaters anymore or I’d go see it again. Oops, this turned out to be a novel anyways, haha.

[Timeblue]

Like I said earlier,a critics view of a film or whatever is just that,his or her's own personal view and why we should follow what they say really gets me angry. What qualifications do you actually need to be one?

[Timeblue]

A very well deserved Oscar for Rami for his performance, one of 4 for the film! take that critics....

[queenofthehours]

Here is the magnificent Rami Malek accepting his award last night -



He made such beautiful speech, as always, full of respect and sincerity made even more lovely here by mentioning his family and girlfriend Lucy Boynton (Mary).

Rami is actually the first Best Actor Oscar winner of Arab origin.

Later, in the press room, Rami took charge of the show in a very Freddy style way. Since he won that Oscar he's become very sassy! He had a few insightful words to say to the critics and gave wonderfully positive and inspirational answers to questions -

I don't know if anyone saw Roger Taylor on ITV this morning with Piers Morgan but for once in my life I must say I agree wholeheartedly with Piers. Piers said that he couldn't understand why the critics would want a grittier, darker film. Why couldn't it be a celebration of an extraordinary life?

Roger said that some of the critics had lost the magic of film and that he hoped people would be touched and uplifted by the movie.

We were, Roger, we were indeed!

Surely it's no coincidence that at the Oscars 2019 the Best Actor played a character from Queen, the Best Actress played an actual Queen and the Best Supporting Actress was named Queen (Regina). Also, Lady Gaga owes her name to a song played in the best scene in BoRhap. Feel free to play the Twilight Zone theme now...