Kim Ji-soo joined The Korea Times in 2006, and worked on such desks as culture and politics and is currently a member of the Editorial Board. Previous workplaces include The Korea Herald and the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Finding solace in film
By Kim Ji-soo
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By Kim Ji-soo
By now, more than 6 million Korean moviegoers have watched the biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” and soon if the current trend is any indication, more will do so.
When “Bohemian Rhapsody” first opened on the last day of October, my estimate was that its popularity would last a month or so before giving way to Christmas films. I thought only a limited generation of Koreans would know of the British rock band Queen.
Admittedly, the Xmas flicks have had yet to land in Korean theaters in earnest and that may well be one reason. But the film about Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury is still flying high in the country, continuing to cast its spell over the country.
It's not only music fans in their 40s and 50s like myself who listened to the British rock band in the 1980s. When news of the film opening in Korea arrived, as a Queen fan I was determined to see it. The band's songs from “Somebody to Love,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Under Pressure” and “We are the Champions,” were all songs that appealed to the latent craving for a refreshing mix of rock and pop in the ears of anyone listening in the 1980s in the rigid, authoritarian society that was Korea. Memories of that time evoked a younger version of myself, feeling the heart palpitate to the fast drum beats of “Another One Bites the Dust” as some Korean DJs eagerly translated what the title meant in English.
But numerous other Koreans ranging in ages from their teens to their 60s are finding solace in the film about how the band came together and nearly fell apart, mainly as Mercury's lifestyle slipped toward a downward spiral, and how the band pulled it back together for the Live Aid concert. Mercury died in 1991 from complications of AIDS.
In the 2018 film, the actor Rami Malek playing Mercury, with his soulful eyes portrays the desire, ambition, and to some extent ambivalence as he seems to pursue acceptance of himself. One might cry a river during the film, be warned. Movie critics have not all been favorable toward but the story of the rise of an immigrant's son born in Zanzibar to join a band in the United Kingdom in 1970 ― whose name and logo he coined ― to climb to world stardom and later accept the decline of his health and life spoke volumes.
Korean fans have taken a liking to the film, catapulting it to become the most watched music film since “Les Miserables.” On Dec. 3 the film was estimated to have posted the second-largest gross sales in the world, lagging only behind the United Kingdom.
Perhaps it was the words uttered by Mercury to future manager John Reid about how Queen would be different. “We're four misfits who don't belong together, playing for other misfits; to the outcasts right at the back of the room who are pretty sure they don't belong either. We belong to them.”
Or maybe it's when Mercury's father says to his son, “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.” Korean theater operators have fast seized upon where the audience goes, adopting experimental formats such as “sing-along” theaters.
Some audience members dressed up like Mercury, in a white sleeveless top and jeans donning mustaches and sunglasses, as they watched in theaters.
There are movie fans who shun biopics. But the case with this film in particular is that the story of one's life resonates because life is a journey everyone goes through. When one has the tool of music to tell it with, it is even better.