Butler's Cinema Scene

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury

“BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY”  My rating: B

134 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

Remi Malek is a most unconventional star.  His biggest break to date has been as the lead of cable’s “Mr. Robot,” where he plays an emotionally-challenged computer genius, a role that perfectly meshes his acting chops with his unusual physiognomy.

He’s a weird-looking dude.

Nevertheless, in Bryan Singer’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” Malek becomes a bona fide movie star, sinking so completely into the role of flamboyant Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury that he immediately joins the frontrunners for the year’s best actor Oscar, turning a rather humdrum musical biopic into something scintillating.

Ramen is charismatic, sexy, funny and ultimately heartbreaking as Mercury, whose baroque (or is it rococo?) sensibilities made Queen one of the most unlikely rock bands of the 1970s and ’80s.

Like the new “A Star is Born,” another film that cannily mines the backstage world of pop/rock, “…Rhapsody” follows a predictable arc, being the story of a rock star’s rise to fame and descent into ego, arrogance and, eventually, death (Mercury died of AIDS in 1991).

But that familiar  — almost cliched — tale provides a solid platform for Malek’s performance —  in addition to offering a musical soundtrack that’ll have you humming days and weeks later.

Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan’s screenplay begins with Farrokh Bulsara (Malek) hustling baggage at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Wherever he goes, the shy Farrokh is a fish out of water.  His fellow workers dismiss him as a “Paki” (Pakistani); his Farsi parents, who fled religious persecution in their native Zanzibar, don’t know what to make of his dramatically long hair and disco fashion sense.

Moreover, the kid has an amazing set of choppers…reportedly Farrokh had four extra incisors (Malek wears a lip-stretching set of fake teeth).

Early on Farrokh takes up with a struggling rock band —  guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee), baby-faced drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), and bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) — and amazes with his songwriting, theatrical presence and balls-to-the-walls vocals (reportedly a combination of Malek’s voice and that of Mercury impersonator Marc Matel).

Oh, yeah. He also changes his name to Freddy Mercury, a break with his heritage that alienates his traditionalist parents.

Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton

Basically we’ve got two stories here.  The first is that of the band Queen, the struggle for success, the infighting, the battles with conservative management (Mike Myers in one of his makeup-heavy transformations), a long falling-out period that ends with an emotional reunion for a show-stopping set at 1985’s Live Aid extravaganza (the play list is recreated in its entirety and it’s spectacular).

It’s fun to see how May came up with the foot-stomping/hand-clapping beat for “We Will Rock You,” or how Deacon’s hypnotic bass line spawned “Another One Bites the Dust” — not to mention Mercury’s championing of his 6-minute mini opera “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The second story, the more personal one, follows Mercury’s love life.

Early on he meets and lives with a fan, Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), in what appears to be a pretty straightforward hetero relationship.

But over time — especially in the long absences of touring — Mercury finds himself attracted to other men. When he confesses to being bisexual Mary responds, “Freddie, you’re gay.” (Apparently the flashy fashions and coy cattiness were a giveaway.) Still, she remains his best friend and “the love of my life”; he buys her the house next to his so that they can exchange late-night messages through their windows.

At the same time Mercury falls under the negative influence of his lover and manager Paul Prenter (Allen Leech, late of “Downton Abbey”), who exploits the singer’s exhaustive partying and isolation. (To this day Prenter is regarded by Queen fans as the arch villain of the Freddie Mercury story, not least because he later sold a self-serving version of their lives together to a national newspaper).

Along the way Mercury abandons his velvet-hippie persona for a Tom of Finland look (short hair, bristly ‘stache, wifebeater undershirts) that emphasized his masculinity and became a landmark of gay iconography.

Late in the film — too late, according to some gay commentators — Malek finds something like true love with waiter Jim Hutton (Aaron McCusker), who lived with the singer for the last six years of his life (a period the film addresses only in a closing credit).

Through it all, Ramek seizes and holds the screen; watching his body language as he portrays Mercury in concert mode is absolutely breathtaking. For a few transcendent moments, Freddie Mercury lives again.

| Robert W. Butler