Bohemian Rhapsody

A celebration of music. Framing the entire story with a concert works incredibly well. The packed Wembley Stadium hungry for every note and Mercury’s every movement enraptures the viewer and takes them not just to the center of the action, but even above it, with the camera flying over the audience and weaving between the band’s legs and even between the fingers on the piano keyboard. Singer is brilliant in terms of form, serving up details on a silver platter, and that’s just the framework I’m talking about. The approach to the band's origins, recording the greatest hits, the dynamics of their relationships and to AIDS also functions well. The movie doesn’t go into detail and it’s a little fragmentary, which is a bit of a shame, but at least it doesn’t hinder this ode to the best band in the world. If you want details, watch a documentary… Malek is fantastic, but so is the rest of the acting ensemble. Ehm…great soundtrack. (11/07/2018)

Finally, a movie that packed the cinema with regulars as well as occasional viewers. A hit that was destined to be a hit. The story of a band, which was destined to be legendary and unique from the very beginning. Queen is actually like that and I have been waiting for many years to see somebody pick up their story and film it in a personal way that feels good. Bryan Singer felt it exactly as I hoped. I could talk about its pros, but also cons. I could talk about the good, but also weaker moments. There are points of the plot of the movie, which I don’t really understand, but on the other hand, there are also points which made me think about what Freddie was possibly like and what sort of life he lived. On the next day, I agreed with my coworkers that the movie is actually very conciliatory as far as Freddie’s life is concerned. I believe that the true reality was much worse… harsher. However, the story oozes a great deal of humility. It also shows the great respect of the whole band for the man who grew up with them and who is for me the greatest singer of the century. That may be one of the reasons why I am giving it five stars and I am unable to rate it differently. You can feel the precision and emphasis on details, which I am sometimes missing in other biopics. It conceals the soul of a perfect story, which has not been seen for a long time and probably won’t be seen for a long while. (11/08/2018)

The celebration of a legend, sunny, full of breathtaking energy and musical highlights. Some of the passages are unnecessarily cinematic, not improvisational enough and quite for effect. Here is where the spontaneous A Star is Born wins. This is reminiscent of 2013, when the two best films of the year, Gravity and Rush, stood side by side and each had a slightly different fan base. Both were great films, but while Rush was a true-to-life story, graspable by any spectrum of audiences, Gravity wanted a more ambitious recipient who was willing to "put in the work" to be rewarded. The same thing happens here, and in films that are very similar in genre. Bohemian Rhapsody is the more challenging sibling, A Star is Born is a gentle American love story, but it manages to work better with emotions. And unlike Rhapsody, you'll take away a bit more from the cinema than just a polished musical component and an interesting depiction of a typically internally torn weirdo artist. (11/18/2018)

The story of one of the greatest bands of all time, Queen, and its charismatic lead singer Freddie Mercury, is conceived as a grand celebration of their music, energy and camaraderie rather than a classic biopic. Instead of private information, dying of AIDS or escalating conflicts between the protagonists, there are concerts, singing and the film tries to entertain above all. Fans will probably appreciate this, but if you go to the cinema expecting to learn more or get any significant insight into Mercury's private life, you'll probably leave disappointed. (11/01/2018)

I was never a Queen fan. For me, their music was synonymous with the cinematic Highlander, and when the name Freddie Mercury was mentioned, the most that came to mind was a duet with Montserrat Caballé. But I respect a film that conveys so much energy with such certainty. The final half-hour of the Live Aid concert is a great idea. Why complicate something that works? Wasn't the reality a little more complicated? That could be another movie in and of itself. (07/26/2019)