Bohemian Rhapsody
Freddie was loud, big and large, not just in his booming voice, but in his life too. His life on stage was as colorful as off it. A captivating rocker and a consummate roller. Nothing about his style was subtle and subdued. The man lived and enjoyed life on his own terms. Anthems, Ballads, Pop, Opera, Rock, his oeuvre spanned a variety of musical genre; husband, friend, lover, metro-, hetero-, bi-, homo-, his sexuality spared no gender either. If the essence of Freddie Mercury (and his band, Queen) can be condensed into a few minutes of exhilarating exhibition of style, song and staging, there is no better demonstration than the half hour performance at the open air Wembley Stadium during the Live Aid Concert in 1985. In between his songs, he catches his breath and starts out with a full throated "A-O" and the packed crowd of 70,000 cries out in unison "A-0", and then he does a full minute of scatting vocal exercises testing his full range and the crowd repeats, note for note, pitch for pitch, range for range, without missing a beat. It is manic energy, bordering on hysteria, it is magical experience, bordering on miracle, it is throbbing, pulsating, feverish experience, bordering on after life. This was Queen at its best, and its king, Freddie Mercury, at his peak prowess and performance.
Had it not been for this Wembley moment in Freddie's life that the movie recreated almost for its entire length, this feeble attempt at varnishing a then tarnished and scandalized life of Freddie would have fallen flat on its face, even with its killer soundtrack. The major blunder that "Bohemian Rhapsody" made was at the studio level calling for a tamer, broader and consequently a tepid version of Mercury's life to garner a more audience friendly rating of PG-13 for a life that alternated unapologetically between an R and an X. After carefully excising out the controversial lifestyle choices (or at least glossing them over in a montage number), all that the movie is left with is a behind the scenes look at the various choices and artistic conflicts during the creation of the epic songs like 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'We will rock you', 'Another one bites the dust' and such. Take out the last half an hour of the movie, and the rest comes off as a Saturday afternoon VH1 tribute to Queen, with the only focus being the music with just a little background on the men behind it. The movie almost does a disservice to the creed of Freddie trying to appear popular by being populist, when Mercury's whole life had been quite contrarian, brilliance not at the cost of acceptance. The one bright light in an otherwise dull presentation is the chameleon act of Rami Malek, as Freddie, who simply transforms into the latter, with those bulbous eyes, the patronizing speech patterns, effete body language (and the dental contraption). Save for him and the final act, "Bohemian Rhapsody" might as well be "Middle of the road medley".
A star is born
It is pretty ironic when the movie treatment of a real life filled with great dramatic moments pales in comparison to a melodramatic fiction that is currently in its fourth iteration of being remade starting way back in 1937. The theory "truth is stranger than fiction" has met its exception. What all "Rhapsody" could have been, "A star is born" is. Set in the same music(al) space of art and artists, "A star is born" triumphs in its realism, even in its most melodramatic moments. While the story, retold many times in different languages ("Abhimaan" for one), is ripe for wringing out every last ounce of sympathy from its tragic setup, what sets the presentation apart is the restraint, both at writing and editing, in not hanging on to key moments to extract the emotion down to its last payoff second, but instead having the confidence of moving on to the next setup mercilessly believing (rightly) the point has successfully been made, which has the effect of transforming a pure melodrama into simply great drama. Two artists, who are at different stages in their musical careers and journeys, one coming down and one rising up find each other at their mid points, fall in love and come together. While the story has the potential to quickly devolve into a familiar tale of one's jealousy at the other's success and the consequent marital discord, the screenwriter(s) wisely choose to take a different route but arrive at the point of conflict by basing their differences on a more realistic "bastardization/commercialization of the art", making the characters remain as much in love till the final moments rendering the final act truly heartbreaking.
The movie is a expertly staged by Bradley Cooper, with those long continuous takes during the musical performances, and close and tight during the intimate conversations, both of which are almost entirely framed in mediums or close-ups, making this truly a tale about its lead pair and no one else. Even the subplot of Cooper's alcoholism and drug addiction are handled with a degree of dignity instead of exploiting them for their convenient plot benefits/character faults. While the movie does succeed in earning its ending, where it truly sparkles is in its musical performances, all uncut, complete (sometimes single take) renditions, and all just jaw dropping. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, who carry the movie on their able shoulders (and voices), flip their real lives' roles, the former as an amateur and the latter, accomplished, and each stellar, regardless. The (mostly original) soundtrack does commendable justice to considerable talent of Lady Gaga (and to a certain extent the gruff grunt of Cooper, who channels Sam Elliott, for a very (movie-) specific reason) who puts in a powerhouse display of her envious vocal range. With the cinematographer chipping in with his fair share of expertise, "A star is born" is a tale that continues to be reborn every few decades or so, and in the hands of master crafts-men/women as the current presentation demonstrates, there is no reason why it should not find a new audience in every other generation.
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