If any of you are musicians, then you know a few things about arguing with people, dealing with recording, and more than likely, crazy people. The film Frank, was recently added to Netflix, and I was drawn to the image of a man in a fake head holding an acoustic guitar on the cover slide. It sat on my list for about a month before I got around to it, and I must say, I regret not watching it sooner. The film recounts the story of an aspiring, but incompetent musician who ends up joining an off kilter band of misfits. This ragtag band is led by then enigmatic character “Frank,” a man in a giant fake head. This begins a deep examination of not only “deep indie music,” as well as mental-illness and self-doubt. It was such a ride and well worth my time.
As aforementioned, the film begins with the character John (Domhnall Gleeson, ) being discontent with his life as a pencil pusher by day, poser song writer by night. By chance one day, he comes upon a band trying to prevent their keyboardist from drowning himself. The band agrees, upon Frank’s (Michael Fassbender, ) consent, to allow John to play a show with them, and then join the band. What follows is a ridiculous journey. The film teeters between a dry comedy and a sort of odd drama. The chemistry within the band is awkward, but that is the point. The band is a bunch of misfits, and John is the outsider imposing on their creativity. The film manages to display various forms of peculiarity within its ranks. From an odd French couple on Drums and Guitar/bass guitar, to a truly disturbed woman on theremin (notably played by Maggie Gyllenhaal,) to a manager with some odd romantic preferences, the group is anything but dull to watch.
Musically, the films soundtrack contains original tracks written for the film with the actors actually performing them. Fassbender does a fantastic job singing in the film, and stays true to his character’s persona on stage. The style could be describes as noise/synth rock. The performances off stage are even more impressive. The extremely off putting comedy is a riot, but the real gem in this flick is the dramatic. The films two sides of inadequacy and mental-illness create an interesting dynamic. John sees these people as amazing musicians who have gone crazy for their art, not realizing that they really have no choice in the struggles they go through just to function in the outside world. As John tries to get inside of the head (that is also inside of a head, ) of Frank, the more he comes to feel alienated by the disparity between their abilities, pushing him further into denial. The two plots mesh in such a creative way, I was in awe of this film.
Plot wise, the film covers a lot of ground in its 95 minute run-time. From England, to Ireland, to Texas, to an all out American road trip, we get treated with a wide variety of settings to place this colorful cast of characters against. Starting from isolation and slowly plunging these disturbed people more and more into the public eye, the film progresses in a way that is setup so meticulously, yet comes off as completely natural. Director Lenny Abrahamson did some fantastic work with this script and pulled off the almost impossible task of bringing the world of music to film in a very accessible and creative way, while still telling a fantastic story.
It should be noted that this film’s star character, Frank, is based off of a real character used by English Comedian/Musician Chris Sievey, who used the character “Frank Sidebottom,” to entertain people from the seventies all the way to the eighties. One of the writers of the film, John Ronson, was in a band with Sievey, and thus named (and to a degree wrote, ) his two lead characters after himself and Sievey’s stage persona. Sievey passed away on June 21st in 2010 from cancer, but was aware of the films production and was flattered by the involvement of Ronson and his beloved old character, Frank Sidebottom.
Two words: Five Stars. Watch this film, you won’t regret it. This is easily one of the best films of 2014, squeaking out its limited release in September of last year. If you have the time, Netflix has the film, so what are you waiting for? Add it to your list and don’t wait a month to watch it. As of now, this is one of my favorite films, and it will most likely become one of yours. If you enjoy music, drama, comedy, and/or giant fake heads, then you’ll love Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank.