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| Joseph Mazzello, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, and Ben Hardy in Bohemian Rhapsody. Image courtesy 20th Century Fox. |
Bohemian
Rhapsody
seems to have good intentions. Its ambition, to find some way of
grounding Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury's complicated and
mysterious life, is grand and approached with occasional vigor. The
movie often wants to be inspirational, especially to the LGTBQ
community and to dreamers hoping to become among the spectacular.
Intentions only go so far, especially in a movie rife with clunky
storytelling and an awkward method of handling it's star's sexuality,
the latter of which crosses over into harmful. For a movie about
someone as fascinating and brilliant as Freddie Mercury, Bohemian
Rhapsody
is far more boring than it has any right to be.
Bohemian
Rhapsody
tells the story of the life of Freddie Mercury (a very good Rami
Malek) over a 15-year span, from his first encounters with Queen
bandmates Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello),
and Brian May (Gwilym Lee) through his complex relationship with Mary
Austin (Lucy Boynton) and ending with the band's performance at Live
Aid in 1985. Along for the ride are a series of band manager and
record producers (Tom Hollander, Aidan Gillen, and Mike Myers) who
either completely get Queen or shrug them off, a manager Paul Prenter
(Allen Leech) with an unhealthy obsession with Mercury, and a love
interest for Mercury, Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker).
Every
now and then Bohemian
Rhapsody
has something inspired to say about Freddie Mercury and Queen.
Printing the negative reviews about the titular song is a neat joke
about how shortsighted criticism can be. The songwriting scenes and
spurts of inspiration in the studio give something of a peek into the
band's quirky songwriting and recording methods. The Live Aid closer
is an engaging re-creation of original performance that shows how
easily Mercury captured an audience. Much of what surrounds these
moments consists of tired biopic driblets that follow the usual notes
of the genre. It's safe storytelling, a quick brush of 15 years of
history without diving into what the band meant in those moments, or
what those moments meant to Mercury.
Then
again, Bohemian
Rhapsody
has a nasty habit of playing fast and loose with the life of Freddie
Mercury to the point where many of the high points in the story are
complete rubbish. Most notable is the film diagnosing Mercury with
AIDS ahead of the Live Aid performance, when by all accounts he
wasn't diagnosed until two years after. The intent is to add a level
of heroism to the performance, giving Mercury something to overcome
for the biggest moment in his professional career. But it's really
just a cheap trick that overrides Mercury's powers as a lead singer.
The Live Aid performance was not about Mercury fighting his
diminished health for a last great performance; it was of a showman
at the height of his powers, entrancing a worldwide audience with
unbelievable levels of charisma and talent.
The
AIDS diagnosis is part of an overarching problem Bohemian
Rhapsody
has addressing Mercury's sexuality. On the surface, the intentions
are good; there is an alarming absence of queer figures in popular
culture, and there remains a penchant for creating chaste gay
characters who express their love off screen. But the movie generally
leans closer to portraying Mercury as more flirty than engaged in his
sexuality. The most the film shows of Mercury expressing his
sexuality are a few kisses and scenes of him navigating through clubs
in the 1980s. What's missing is a sense of passion from Mercury in
this movie, something to show him expressing himself instead of
talking around the subject. Bohemian
Rhapsody
certainly identifies Mercury as gay, at the expense of overriding
Mercury's self-identification as bisexual. It's an unsurprising
choice – it's far simpler to explain a binary concept than a fluid
one – but a quietly dangerous one because it strips Mercury of his
agency. The choice no longer belongs to Mercury, but to the
filmmakers who felt it easier to ensure his place as a gay icon
instead of a queer one.
Mercury
could have been gay in real life, but it remains unclear as to where
he resided along that spectrum. Like much of Mercury's life, it was a
mystery, a part of his depths as a human being. Bohemian
Rhapsody
doesn't care much for ambiguity, instead doing all it can to explain
who Mercury was despite never having a firm grasp on him. Which is
really a fatal flaw for a movie about someone as complex as Mercury
was; reliving the mystery is far more interesting than trying to
explain the fact.
Review: Two and a half out of Five
Stars
Click here to see the trailer.
Rating: PG-13
Run time: 134 minutes
Genre: Biography
tl;dr
What
Worked: Rami
Malek, soundtrack, Live Aid concert
What
Fell Short: Trite
narrative, untrue storytelling
What
To Watch Instead:
American
Splendor,
Love
& Mercy,
Queen's Live Aid set
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