Not watching the 2019 Oscars; thinking of Malek and Mercury
I just couldn’t bring myself to watch the Oscars this year, even for the fashions.
I’ve only seen one of the movies this year that was nominated, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It was fun (despite the historical inaccuracy typical of the genre), and I loved the music. But a great movie? No. And a great performance by Rami Malek, who won Best Actor for it? No, no, a thousand times no. Malek tried his best, and pretty obviously worked like a dog. But no—he doesn’t conjure up Freddie Mercury at all, at least not for me.
Now, I seem to be in the minority about that. In fact, I’m nearly alone in holding such an opinion. The critics didn’t like the movie all that much, although the public did (as I said, it was fun, and the music a romp through Queen’s great hits). But almost all the critics loved Malek and praised him to the skies.
Now, I’m not holding myself out to be a big Mercury expert. But I’ve seen some performance videos and a number of interviews with him, and in the movie Malek just doesn’t convey Mercury to me, despite the prosthetic nose and the prosthetic teeth and the incredible effort I’m sure Malek put into it. Nor was it Malek who was singing, for the most part, although that’s to be expected.
The poor guy was especially hampered by fake teeth that were too big for his face. While it’s absolutely true that Mercury himself had prominently protruding teeth, he also had a much bigger head and face, more regal and longer and just larger than Malek, and his teeth didn’t look as prominent and just plain odd as similar teeth look on Malek. Mercury’s teeth never dominated his face, but Malek’s did, and Malek never seemed comfortable in them. That’s a terrible handicap to overcome as an actor.
There was a lot more that went wrong. Malek has pale blue eyes, very arresting and hypnotic in the movie but nothing, absolutely nothing, like Mercury’s. And I’m not speaking just of the color, but the general look of the eyes. Malek looked very intense and almost in a trance much of the time, almost demented or possessed, which is not a look I’ve ever seen on Mercury’s face in any of the videos.
But most of all Malek didn’t move like Mercury, and since a great deal of the film is concert performances in which Malek mimics Mercury’s performing style and movements almost obsessively, this rings false for me. I think for most people, though, this aspect was the part that was most impressive of all in Malek’s performance. I’m sure it took a lot of study and practice by Malek to raise his arm a certain way at a certain time, just like Mercury had, and to use the same gestures and steps in general. But the effect was very different, at least for me.
Mercury had an unusual and idiosyncratic way of moving and in particular of standing when he performed. Mercury’s moves didn’t look choreographed; it seemed as though he was just moving as the music and his spirit dictated. But with Malek, it seemed apparent to me that he was thinking of his next move all the time and nothing seemed spontaneous (of course, it wasn’t spontaneous for the actor—but it would have helped if he could have made it seem spontaneous).
Mercury’s hallmark stance, especially when singing ballads, was to open his arms widely and expansively, throw his head waaaay back and turn his face up, and open and expand his chest. He’d often plant his feet in a wide stance that was somewhat turned out, edging towards the balletic. The entire effect was to say with his body: Audience, world, I love you, I’m open to you, I’m yours and you’re mine.
Not an easy thing to accomplish, and Malek never came close to the feel of that body language. He didn’t have the balletic stance, the line, or the emotional openness.
In addition, whatever their relative heights (I believe Mercury was somewhat taller than Malek is), Mercury certainly looked taller and just plain larger on stage, and had a dominant upper body and longer leaner legs. The long legs were what made him look tall. Malek looks wiry and compact, whereas Mercury was stretched out. And Malek’s legs are shorter in proportion to his torso, which makes him look short or at least shorter than he actually is, and helps to make his movements seem contracted and much smaller than Mercury’s.
I suppose I sound nitpicky. But things like this really disturb me, and I’m very sensitive to posture and movement. Between the marbles in Malek’s mouth, his stoned “Village of the Damned” eyes, and his tense body, it was a very interesting performance. It certainly didn’t bore me. But he seemed just plain weird to me in a way that Mercury didn’t.
But I’d rather discuss Malek and Mercury than the intensely boring and self-congratulatory Oscars.
NOTE: Here’s a video that shows Mercury performing a slow song and displaying some of the body language I’m talking about.
Sorry, We watched “Bullett” on DVD, The only movie we saw last year (and again this year) was “They Shall Not Grow Old.” We did see Dunkirk but I can’t remember if it was 2018 or 2017. We also saw “Free Solo” which won something I hear.
Since you mentioned it in a previous post I rented BR on Saturday on Amazon Prime and watched it with my 7.1 surround system. I was a bit surprised the sound mix wasn’t better for a music based pic.
Yes, someone screwed up Malek’s makeup; I agree there. I do think he did a reasonable job on the rest of the character. The movie as whole? OK. I didn’t feel I wasted my time or money, and it was good to relive some of those songs. However, it was a typical rock band biopic: band struggles, band makes it big, band fights, band breaks up, band reunites. What bothered me most was that instead of really giving the music center stage, they would give just bits and pieces of the great songs to make room for more of the “drama”. Why not play all of Bohemian Rhapsody, etc??? Only at the end where they finally made room for the complete LiveAid 20 minute performance do we get complete songs.
I thought the rest of the band was cast very well, especially the actor who played Brian May. However, every time I see “Little Finger” (Aidan Gillen) in a different role I just can’t get past his GoT persona as he seems to play other parts the same way…bad casting in my view.
BTW, my millennial daughters watched it and loved it. That surprised me as when they were younger it was a struggle to get them to listen to anything from the 70s or early 80s. They commented that they knew some of the music but didn’t know it was Queen and they had heard of Freddie Mercury but didn’t know really who he was and that he was the lead for Queen.
physicsguy:
Funny about Aiden Gillen, I think it might have to do with what you saw him in first. It took me several seasons of GoT to not see Councilman/Mayor Tommy Carcetti from The Wire…
No clue why people find Queen at all interesting at this juncture.
Malek wasn’t the first choice. From IMDB:
I read some viewers reviews. Some Queen fans were pissed that they took such liberties with the known history. Some were upset that they white-washed what known to be more of an X-rated partying lifestyle for Mercury. (Can’t make a ton of money with an NC-17 rating.)
Malek is the second Arab to win a best actor Oscar. Oooo! (See Michelle Yeoh’s comment on diversity awards.)
And he marched in the Women’s March. Double Oooo!
Malek has also won awards for his performance in Mr. Robot. That show piqued my interest because of the cyber espionage angle. Then I learned that it is the same old tired Marxist anti-corporation drivel. So I haven’t seen it. It sounds like Malek’s character is a cyber anarchist, but we are supposed to call him a vigilante. And vigilantes are now cool if the they pick the politically incorrect victims.
Was Malek’s best actor award political? Probably IMHO. The primary reason I don’t watch the show.
_____
Both Bryan Singer and Stephen Frears are very good directors, but I’d give the nod to Frears. I also read that Singer was fired in the last couple weeks of filming BR, but no reasons why.
Then there is the bigger picture with Bryan Singer. The Oscars blackout on Singer got an article here. And the tabloid skinny on Singer is here.
Art Deco:
I can think of some reasons.
They like their music, which is very popular on YouTube (views in the 50 million plus for many of the videos). I happen to like their music; your mileage may certainly differ, and probably does.
The early death of Freddie Mercury of AIDS was both sad and public knowledge, and created the effect that’s often the case with rock stars who die—that of enhancing the legend.
Two of the originals are still playing at around 70, and playing quite well. They are on tour with the young guy Adam Lambert of American Idol fame.
I haven’t watched the Oscars in decades. Long before it became ridiculously politicized it was obvious that it was just a movie industry insider schmoozefest with only coincidental correlation to film quality.
Quit watching the pretty nauseating crap of Hollywood award shows–these way overlong exercises in bad taste, buffoonery, high fives, back slapping, virtue signalling, and with the added bonus of increasingly frequent lectures directed at us “little people” thrown in–a long time ago.
There could be no better summation of what, from the evidence, are Hollywood’s and supposedly “elite” attitudes toward the people of ”flyover country” than this recent rant by Bill Mahr, quote,
“There are no red carpets in Wyoming and no one ever asks you, ‘who are you wearing?’ because the answer is always Target,” Maher said as the audience laughed. “We have orchestras, theater districts, world class shopping, we have Chef Wolfgang Puck, they have Chef Boyardee.”
The host continued, “Our roofs have solar panels, theirs have last year’s Christmas lights… the flyover states have become passed-over states, that’s why red state voters are so pissed off.”
“They don’t hate us. They want to be us. They want to go to the party. It’s like we’re the British royal family and they’re Meghan Markle’s dad,” Maher asserted. Maher concluded the brutal mocking by suggesting Amazon relocate to a red state in order to bring those voters more prosperity.
“If you leave the red states behind, they’re going to keep getting angrier, crazier,” Maher declared.”
See: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/let_them_eat_chef_boyardee.html
The despised and mocked flyover people, whose hard work, of course, keeps things going, and produces a lot of the things that make it possible for the “elites,” those people who mock and despise them, to” live the good life.”
Great call on the body language. Of “Love of My Life” that was written by Mercury about the love of his life, Mary Austin.
Here are some photos that fell out of the net earlier today.
https://www.boredpanda.com/freddie-mercury-mary-austin-friendship-photos/
I haven’t watched the Oscars for at least 4 decades. But was glad to learn Green Book won best picture. We saw it last week and enjoyed it. Of course we figured Hollywood changed the story some what, but even so, an interesting story and a positive story about race relations after 8 years of the messiah’s race mongering.
I share similar sentiments of Malek’s performance. Guy looked uncomfortable with those prosthetic teeth in. But it’s a running joke that there isn’t much variation to get nominated for. The chances of you being nominated for an Oscar skyrockets if you play a Jewish person during WWII (The Pianist), a black oppressed person (Moonlight), a famous dead person (Stephen Hawking), a white person dealing with white people problems (Lady Bird) or a period piece. Everyone now and then you might get an inspired nom (Slumdog).
Snow on Pines,
As long as the elites keep flying over, I don’t care what they think. They are far less in touch with reality than they could ever imagine. They live in a bubble. Where does the food they eat, the electricity that powers the lights in their homes, and everything they rely upon come from? The ‘red’ people of course. They assume they don’t need us and we want to be them. Nothing could be further from reality. We don’t need them, they need us. Let them pay attention to the crease of pants and the thrill up their legs while we live successfully in the real world. My contempt for them is so strong that if one of them spontaneously burst into flames I wouldn’t piss on them to put out the fire.
Parker–Much as I despise this whole supposedly “elite” crew and their attitudes, you do see where this increasing disdain, hatred, and division–bi-coastal elites vs. the interior, Left vs. Right, this Race vs. that Race, Women vs. Men, etc. and, for the most part, the elite’s creation–is likely to end up, don’t you?
If things keep on this trajectory, the increasingly likely outcome–somewhere down the road, maybe sooner, maybe later–is going to be some sort of violent conflict, perhaps even a Civil War, with all of the death, destruction, and misery that will bring.
And/or perhaps, as well, the possibility that the U.S. will suffer a permanent fracture, breaking apart into two or more separate entities–a realignment–with the decline in cohesion and power that that development would likely cause.
Just the outcome that our enemies–both foreign and domestic–would want.
You are also perhaps aware of this 1787 quote, attributed to Scottish Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler from the University of Edinburgh, and said about the demise of the Athenian Republic but, I think apropos of our situation today as well, that–
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse doe to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
Candidates bidding for the votes of constituents by promising, higher and higher amounts of free stuff, of government benefits, our massive annual deficits, but more importantly, the resultant public debt, that has climbed to unprecedented and frighteningly high levels. A total amount that it actually may be impossible to pay down.
That certainly seems to be our situation today.
Could our time be up?
I don’t know, but the trends are not looking good.
Parker–Tytler’s quote was also echoed by Benjamin Franklin, who said that:
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.”
Yeah, like I’m going to take my cues from the silicone people of Hollywood, who attended the Oscars.
Take away all that silicone, and it would have been far from a pretty sight last night.
parker on February 25, 2019 at 6:57 pm at 6:57 pm said:
I haven’t watched the Oscars for at least 4 decades. But was glad to learn Green Book won best picture. We saw it last week and enjoyed it. Of course we figured Hollywood changed the story some what, but even so, an interesting story and a positive story about race relations after 8 years of the messiah’s race mongering.
* * *
Saw this on PowerLine and had to chase down the links to see what the movie was about, but Mr. Green’s point was well taken.
https://spectator.us/green-book-lying-white-guilt/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/11/green-book-review-charming-deep-south-road-trip-is-worth-taking
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/25/green-books-victory-undoes-the-conspicuous-diversity-of-this-years-oscars
Notice that the second reviewer exhibits traits frequently noticed about the Wokescolds (love that phrase by Rod Dreher):
(1) no sense of humor (the exchange about “being more black” was (I suspect, not having seen it) pointed at the black pianist’s repertoire, not his race);
(2) no generosity of spirit (Ali only won Best Supporting Actor (the white guy was the Star — which Mortenson ** is ** (sorry, but this is Hollywood after all)), but he did WIN);
(3) no belief in redemption and change of character (the bigot ended up helping — supposedly liking — the person (or at least victim group(s)) he had started out hating).
That ought to be enough parentheses to keep the order of operations clear.
..but wait, there’s more!
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/03/peter-farrelly-green-book-mahershala-ali-viggo-mortensen
Excuse me, but isn’t that kind of the definition of “fixing racism”??
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/02/oscars-2019-lacked-luster-stars-who-cares/
Ok, the elites and their running dogs imagine utopia if only we deplorables commit suicide. Dream on. We know how to survive in SHTF situations, and have the means and ammo to protect us when/if they flee their rat and cockroach infested metropolitan zones. Bring it on. Yes, I do see, saw if 4 decades ago. No surprises in casa parker.
Many here are, I would guess, in metro areas, or close to one. What do you do if TSHTF? Svivel up and die ot become members of a murderous mob? Closest mob to me is 125 miles to the west, 300 miles to the north, 200 miles to the south, and 250 miles to the east. Feel safe.
The most problematic thing about Green Book is that it’s a sloppy remake of Driving Miss Daisy which, as rich sources for plagiarism go, wasn’t exactly Battleship Potemkin.
It’s a sloppy remake only in the addled head of your critic. Driving Miss Daisy is pure fiction but incorporates plot and characterization around a common sort of patron-client relation of that era. Green Book is a biopic and is constructed around two people in an eccentric sort of contractual relation.
I should have understood the dramatic equation behind Green Book — Americans are troubled by the racist past, Americans believe in happy endings,
The British intelligentsia and its dependents and hangers-on understand nothing of this country or of anything else outside their rancid little social circles and should have their insteps stomped on until their clothes fall off.
Would Freddie Mercury ever have fallen off the stage the way Rami Malek did? I don’t know – maybe as the result of some sort of excessive substance indulgence but Freddie had a graceful athleticism that Malek lacks.
Russell Brand might have been a better alternative to play Freddie
Now comes more very dangerous lunacy in the form of AOC’s “Green New Deal” (GND), another deceptive scheme by the Left to seize complete control over everything and over us, and all we own, on the pretext of an “existential” Climate Change Emergency–say they, we’re all gonna die in 12 years if we don’t do what AOC and her “Marching Moron” followers demand–a demand that all of the “celebrities” who attended the Oscar would, no doubt, whole-heartedly support.
The Obama Administration saw interest rates, thanks to the FED, artificially kept at essentially zero for many years, a doubling of the national debt, and a corresponding many fold increase in the amount of currency in circulation; none of these things good for the economic health of our nation.
Now comes AOC’s “Green New Deal,” and the unknown number of many trillions of dollars that would be needed to implement it.
How to pay for this gigantic, all encompassing project—the biggest in U.S.History, why, just “print money.”
See how some guest writers at the Huffington Post propose to pay for the Green New Deal
“As a monopoly supplier of U.S. currency with full financial sovereignty, the federal government is not like a household or even a business. When Congress authorizes spending, it sets off a sequence of actions. Federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense or Department of Energy, enter into contracts and begin spending. As the checks go out, the government’s bank ? the Federal Reserve ? clears the payments by crediting the seller’s bank account with digital dollars. In other words, Congress can pass any budget it chooses, and our government already pays for everything by creating new money.
This is precisely how we paid for the first New Deal. The government didn’t go out and collect money ? by taxing and borrowing ? because the economy had collapsed and no one had any money (except the oligarchs). The government hired millions of people across various New Deal programs and paid them with a massive infusion of new spending that Congress authorized in the budget. FDR didn’t need to “find the money,” he needed to find the votes. We can do the same for a Green New Deal.”**
** See https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-green-new-deal-cost_us_5c0042b2e4b027f1097bda5b
Economic illiteracy and ignorance at it’s very dangerous best.
I view the GND as just the latest iteration of Leftist schemes to use a supposed “Existential Threat”–which, since it is an an Emergency, demands that all normal investigation, consideration, and debate over this issue be foregone because, its an “EXISTENTIAL EMERGENCY”–one designed to panic/force people into giving those on the Left–politicians, “environmental/climate advocates,” supposed “experts,” the UN–control and direction over every aspect of our government, economy, and our personal decisions and wealth–in AOC’s words a total, WWII type mobilization of our population–to deal with this potentially civilization ending, EXISTENTIAL CRISIS.
This, of course, after the Left’s prior calls for such draconian steps to battle their every more obviously fraudulent “Global Warming” collapsed, and it was re-framed and renamed as “Climate Change.”
This is a full court press by the Left, illustrated by the recent confrontation in Senator Feinstein’s office between some heavily indoctrinated children–demanding that Feinstein commit to voting the GND, and Feinstein refusing to bow to their will.
See https://www.facebook.com/BayAreaSunrise/videos/2101109139978731/
The only Oscar nominee I watched was “Black Panther”, and that was only because the local library had it available on DVD. It was absurd that such an average superhero movie, with no attempt at plausibility (primitive lifestyle to mag-lev trains with nothing in-between, all thanks to vibranium) was actually nominated. Other movies released in 2018 that I watched were “The Meg” and “Skyscraper”, action films designed for appeal to the Asian market, and “Colette” (a period film with Keira Knightley), and all those were a triple-feature due to a long plane trip.
But the one most important point I took away from this year’s Awards was just how different things are going to be in the near future. The movies are a reflection of culture and society, and this country will very soon have a non-white majority. That will end up shaping the culture in very different ways from how it was just a few decades ago. All movies released in the future will be designed to show that white people know their place. Just ask Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino (director of “Django Unchained”), among others.
Yankee –
“All movies released in the future will be designed to show that white people know their place.”
Unfortunately, this seems to be an accurate statement. As a movie lover, it has already relegated me to watching mostly horror movies and a few action films, genres which still have *some* immunity to the SJW virus. It’s now a not uncommon experience for me to come to iTunes on Tuesday to check the new releases and not want to watch any of them. Unheard of for me.
I love movies almost more than books, so it is particularly painful watching movies go to the Stalinist wasteland.
Apart from the racial/tribal/social justice obsessions, I have noticed something else in recent years that is hard to put into words. Even films that don’t have anything to do with race or politics, art films or mainstream, films that aim to be profound and carry some meaning, some weight – heft, you know? – come off as full of pretense and ultimately empty.
A couple of horror movies that received a lot of praise last year are in this vein – It Comes At Night and The Witch. It’s as though they’re aiming at the wrong target, making things deep that aren’t terribly deep while missing the potential for what’s there that really is deep. I chalk this up to a dearth of learning. Most of these auteurs (so-called) haven’t read enough, thought enough, suffered enough, or been humble enough to develop an aesthetic sense for the deeper frequencies of life.
It’s a common trend in movies like this to not have endings. The writers basically write themselves into a corner, very clearly not being confident or certain of what exactly they’re trying to say, which leads them to abruptly amputate their conclusions as a cheap way to drive their non-points home. It’s the art house equivalent of a jump scare or a fart joke, except worse because it comes pre-justified with an “It’s supposed to make you think, dummy” rationalization.
Paradoxically, then, the most profound films I see these days are non-profound films, movies that are just content to be what they are 100%, to commit and go all the way. It’s almost got to the point where it’s artistically brave to simply try to make the best horror or action movie you can, whereas middlebrow stabs at depth no longer seem interestingly ambitious, but rather vapid and pretentious, mere declarations of aristocratic class affiliation. “Aristocratic,” which today means (aside from leftist politics) a cultivated posture of thoughtfulness, good taste, learning, and intelligence without earning the real things. The current aristocracy is a clique that has agreed to pretend they’re all Deep Thinkers by signaling with buzz words, phrases, and ideological declarations, so as to fend off the brutality of what it actually takes to become a Deep Thinker.
That attitude has infested movies as well, and once you become aware of it you can’t shut it off.