What better way to spend a rainy All Souls' Day afternoon than at the Grandin watching a loving and powerful telling of how a young man in the digs became the Queen of the World. Told with a subtlety of which Mercury himself would approve, we see Freddie create and claim the crown, wear it in glory, cast it away and come into himself at long last. The message of the power of belongingness unfolds with grace and power in equal measure, without force or guile. Rami Malek delivers a Mercury that is as mercurial and vulnerable as ever, as undeniable, proud and presumptuous as we all remember, and all the Freddy in between, all the way up to the beautiful anthemic resolution appearance at Live Aid, when the family's differences and hurts were washed away by the waves of love that Freddy always brought to the crowd, and that they showered back upon him with unconditional abundance. Performance was his religion and his altar, and he let us worship him
What a beautiful story of identity, belonging, friendship, loss and love. Mostly of love.
(If I stream
Queens Greatest Hits after watching the movie, will I get all my original tapes back?)
