"Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018)

It is a bit mystifying to me that these biopics keep having so much award success. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a fine enough film, but not great. Malek is a fine actor but doesn’t really channel Mercury. Many of the things changed from the real story are inexplicable. What was the reasoning? The best part of the film is the reenactment of Queen’s Live Aid performance, but just watching the real thing—readily available online—is better.

At the heart of the story they end up telling is a tragedy of a confused man who was his own enemy. I know that is not exactly what they were going for, but it is what you get. Mercury was a tremendously talented man who was fortunate to connect with collaborators that offered him success. But he sabotaged levels of that success chasing greener grass on his own. He had the love of a woman he truly seemed to care about but threw that away over sexual confusion.

And, beyond the film, when you look at many of Mercury’s lyrics, he had questions about meaning and life that should have been answered but he was too busy being unsatisfied with excess to find them.