Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender

Rhys Thomas

BY Ian GormelyPublished Dec 7, 2012

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With the Frankenstein corpse of Queen marching across the globe, in both their Broadway musical and truncated band reunion versions, the time seems ripe to take a closer look at the British quartet's legendary singer: Freddie Mercury. This latest instalment in Eagle Vision's cheap but fun run of archival docs focuses on Mercury's work outside the group, particularly his two solo albums from the '80s. Mercury had a very un-rock'n'roll upbringing, being born to Parsi parents in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), something he downplayed throughout most of his career. The film jumps around in time, moving from his first solo album, 1985's Mr. Bad Guy, to the late '70s, where he first began publically toying with his sexual identity. By the early '80s, Mercury had a flat in NYC and submerged himself in the city's gay club scene, which was at its hedonistic peak at the time. The influence of this period is evident on Queen's subsequent album, Hot Space, which embraced the dance music Mercury loved. Despite housing Mercury's epic duet with David Bowie, "Under Pressure" (which is barely mentioned), the album was a disappointment, losing America for the band and further straining group relations. The Great Pretender does address the duet Mercury performed with Michael Jackson, even playing a snippet of the track, but spends much of its run time focusing on Mercury's second record sans Queen, a duet album with Spanish opera star Montserrat Caballé, Barcelona. The doc's final minutes are dedicated to Mercury's deteriorating health and eventual death stemming from AIDS. While Filmmaker Rhys Thomas scored contemporary interviews with both Brian May and Roger Taylor, most of the doc is pieced together from archival footage (extended interviews from the mid-'80s serve as the DVD's sole bonus material), making for a somewhat jumbled narrative. Still, Thomas has honed in on an oft-overlooked aspect of one of pop and rock's most dynamic frontmen, making The Great Pretender the perfect way to kill an afternoon for any Queen fan.
(Eagle Vision)

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