'Bohemian Rhapsody', 2018

I was really excited to see ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (2018) in theaters, and while it was definitely an entertaining watch, it still let me down. A biographical drama directed by Bryan Singer, the movie follows Freddie Mercury’s life from when he first joins the band (before they are even ‘Queen’) to their performance at the Live Aid concert of 1985.

Some things I liked: I thought that Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury was electrifying, but I’m sure that other viewers who were more a part of Freddie’s generation may not have been as impressed. The musical performances were very exciting (my favorite scene of the movie shows the process behind the creation of the band’s hit single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’), but seeing Malek’s mouth wavering with weird, fake CGI was an experience I could have lived without.

Some things I didn’t like: Though the film attempts to showcase the major performances in Queen’s history, I found out later that the storyline apparently contains many historical inaccuracies. Screenwriter Anthony McCarten reportedly said “We're making a movie here, not a documentary;” I think I would have preferred the latter, but not from this writer. Partly due to these inaccuracies, and also just in general, the way the film handles Mercury’s sexuality and his relationships was disappointing, sensationalized, and one-dimensional. Aja Romano, writing for Vox, said it best: “Bohemian Rhapsody is a movie that consciously tries to position a gay man at its center while strategically disengaging with the 'gay' part as much as it can, flitting briefly over his emotional and sexual experiences and fixating on his platonic relationship with an ex-girlfriend instead.” At the time I saw the movie, I had no knowledge of the director’s history of sexual assault. I wish I’d have known, because maybe then I wouldn’t have gone to see this movie (and wouldn’t have missed much).

The five words I would use to describe this film: sensationalized, trite, sanitised, one-dimensional, hollow

My queer take: The screenwriter basically rewrote Mercury’s (and Queen’s) entire history to create a more entertaining movie, resulting in the erasure of many important parts of both his and the band’s history (and, ironically, resulting in a less entertaining movie). Malek’s performance saves this movie from being a total failure, but I’d much rather see a more honestly and carefully crafted piece about Mercury’s life (from start to finish) and his relationship with his partner, Jim Hutton. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 61% fresh rating, making ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ made it one of the worst-reviewed films to win a Best Picture award at the Golden Globe Awards.

Fun fact: For the Live Aid performance, there were about a hundred extras, who were all individually scanned 360° and digitally replicated to imitate a larger crowd.