Bohemian Rhapsody Chronicle: Indeed, a biopic of the queen of the killers

Bohemian Rhapsody, which premiered in the United States on Friday and has already opened in the United Kingdom and Australia, tells the story of Queen's rise and focuses appropriately on singer Freddie Mercury. But this is not a biography of the cradle at the grave. It covers 15 years of climbing and returning from Queen. It's as much a concert as a biopic, especially when it presents the band's performance at Live Aid, a global charity concert held in 1985 that raised funds to fight hunger in Ethiopia.

Even before Bohemian Rhapsody begins, the 20th Century Fox logo appears on screen and the well-known trumpet fanfare turns into a queen-colored electric guitar. It's a bit like if the logo asked you to get ready for rock, there will be a headache. When is the last time that a non-comic-book-movie logo had applause before a movie?

At the screening I attended at San Francisco's famous Castro Theater, people were saying Bohemian Rhapsody's words – as you do – and applauding on "Radio GaGa". There are so many Queen songs in the movie that it's worth seeing just to listen to music through the theater speaker. I do not remember another music biopic with so much music.

The other reason to see Bohemian Rhapsody is bravura performance of Rami Malek in the role of Freddie Mercury. It's hard to imagine anyone who can play the Mercury really unique, with its jutting cheekbones, endless jaw and, of course, teeth.

To resemble Mercury is one thing, but to be able to play like it is another. Enter Malek, who plays Elliot Alderson on Mr. Robot. It does not look exactly like Mercury, but embodies it from head to toe. His performance carries the film and is heartfelt even in the darkest moments of Mercury.

On stage, Malek is wacky, seductive and mesmerizing as he struggles and prepares himself with the true trust of Mercury. Its angular position and its voice pressure emerge from its elastane-covered frame, like a shining light to the sky. And it's just like Mercury on the scene.

Malek knows how to describe both the rock star and the person. In scenes between Mercury and Mary Austin, her closest friend and partner (played by Lucy Boynton), you see a vulnerable side of Mercury, driven by a quest for identity as well as ambition. (Hey, iconic rock stars are like us.)

Without Mary, as the film shows, Mercury may not have fully explored her talent and sexuality. Boynton brings to Mary a contemporary perspective that allows her to be a muse, a partner and a friend who has enough emotional strength to show Mercury who he really is, even if it breaks his heart.

But the other part of Freddie Mercury is the main singer of Queen. The legendary guitarist Brian May is beautifully performed by Gwilym Lee in a series of curls, Ben Hardy plays drummer Roger Taylor and Joe Mazzello bassist John Deacon.

Some of my favorite scenes are those where four record a song. You see the creativity of the quartet as much as its quarrels. One of the best sequences is the band that records "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a farm studio. There is a moment when Mercury writes lyrics that are both an act of creation and a divine inspiration. It's just him alone at the piano in a farmhouse with his raw emotions and his natural talent fully exposed.

The story has obvious parallels with other musical biopics, perhaps because many lives of famous musicians follow the same path: start as a person; find love and success; fight against celebrity, sexual adventures, drugs; lose yourself in glory; grow outside of your loved ones; and make a comeback. In addition, as is the case here, there is the tragic end.

Mercury died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991. The timing was even more favorable as at that time, awareness and understanding of HIV / AIDS was still at their peak. infancy. Just the day before his death, the very private artist publicly declared that he had the disease.

The meaning of the tragic end of Mercury invades you from the first image of the film, a silent close-up on his eyes. The context is not clear here, but there is enough ambiguity to make you fear the worst. The knowledge of Mercury's illness and death is like another character in the film whose presence is barely visible, but which often leaves me afraid of being scared.

But as this brief silent ending ends, "Someone to Love" comes in and we spot Mercury passing in front of all her cats feasting on fancy bowls to leave her castle for this famous Live Aid concert. Mercury is in his completely cloned Castro look with his short, smooth hair and big bushy mustache.

Despite the fact that he hangs in the limbo of development for years, with various stars and directors attached (and not without controversy), the film that came out of such a complicated creative process is phenomenal. It does not deserve to be overshadowed by off-screen fights, and director Dexter Fletcher (credited as executive producer) deserves praise for his work over the last few weeks of filming.

The film is beautifully shot by director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel, a frequent contributor to Bryan Singer, credited with the director. Sigel captured the band with a performance as authentic as the tiny daily moments between concerts. I like the way he frames Malek.

As for the wardrobe, throughout the movie, I've heard various viewers / many viewers say, "Oh, I want this shirt" or "I need those shoes". Malek's clothes as Mercury are necessarily, gloriously on the top. The film is a master class in rock star costume design.

Mike Myers is almost unrecognizable as the leader of EMI, Ray Foster. His presence in the film is wonderfully cheeky, especially since Wayne's World was one of the reasons for the resurgence of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bohemian Rhapsody, much like the 2015 biopic that Straight Outta Compton did for NWA, will introduce Queen to a new audience while easily elevating the band's rock god status. Despite all the hype, the film is about four foreigners who made fantastic music.

As Mercury says: "We are four marginalized people who do not belong together and play for the other marginalized".

Culture: Your center for everything from film and television to music, comics, toys and sports.

Movie Magic: The behind-the-scenes secrets of your favorite movies and filmmakers.