Film: Frank
Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Domnhall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Frank was the one film that left me bewildered after viewing it at the Provincetown Film Festival. That’s not a terrible thing to say. If anything, it’s a compliment. Frank is a mysterious beast; it starts out as a sob story about a loner trying to gather inspiration for new music, then it turns into an episode of VH1’s Behind The Music, and then finally settles in as a short study of mental disabilities. At its best, Frank is a rousing musical comedy that soars above with a certain brand of weirdness.

Frank follows Jon (Domnhall Gleeson), a keyboard-playing loner that happens upon the band Soronprfbs who need a new band member. This eccentric band that specializes in experimental music is led by the Papier-mâché head wearing Frank (Michael Fassbender). What Jon doesn’t know as he travels off to a reclusive cabin with fellow band members Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Don (Scoot McNairy), Nana (Carla Azar), and Baraque (François Civil) is that he is in for a wild life-changing ride. Frank is loosely based upon Frank Sidebottom, a weird musician of cult fame in the late ‘80s and ‘90s in the UK.

The only thing more eccentrically weird than Frank himself is the direction in which the story decides to venture. When the band decides to close themselves off from the world in a cabin in Northern Ireland, magic happens in a sense. Magic in the form of obscure utterances about the universe from Fassbender and the constant vile-spewing from Gyllenhaal’s Clara, who seems to be consistently in a bad mood towards Jon. She represents one side of the spectrum to the creative process. We have Jon who constantly takes video diaries of the band’s progress and then we have Clara, who wants to hide Frank’s genius from the world because she is nervous of the reaction. If there were one major gripe with Frank, it would be Gyllenhaal’s performance. What can be construed as anger and indifference towards Jon’s character, we get a one-sided and cold-hearted character.

That’s where the film flourishes, it draws a very visible line between creating music and the types of fame that come along with it. With Soronprfbs‘ case, the fame comes directly from how weird and eccentric the band is. Inside Jon’s head, he thinks that him taking video diaries and uploading them to YouTube is conducive to spreading the word about the band. The reality is that the general public are rejecting them as artists and only watching them as if they were a sideshow act.

Michael Fassbender steals the show as Frank, the titular character that teeters on the line between genius and mentally damaged. The regiments that Frank makes the band members go through to make music in their cabin is equal parts hilarious and inventive. I don’t think there was one single sentence that Frank uttered that made sense but yet, these four other band members follow him like he is the next coming of the messiah.

After that band retreat, Soronprfbs, are offered their first big gig. Naturally, Jon thinks it is a great idea while everyone remains firm that they function best as an indie band playing in dive bars. Frank is blown away by the opportunity though because he plays a human being that wants to be loved and it doesn’t matter by whom. He doesn’t know about the heartbreak that goes along with not being accepted though, he just wants to be himself.

This is where the film suffers, we finally find out exactly why Frank is the way he is. It was better left as a mystery about Frank’s upbringing and childhood, seriously. Over the course of the film, like the band members, we are growing to appreciate Frank because of his eccentricity and eagerness to create something unique and new. Instead, a shoehorned message about mental disability is inserted into the final act, which brings down the good will that the whole film had created so far. Somewhat revived by the final 5 minutes that tries to drive the derailed band back on track and finish out on a high note, Frank is a refreshing comedy about the musical process with fantastic performances.

GRADE: B
Review written by: Sam Cohen – (Follow him on Twitter)

• Author
• Recent Posts

Sam Cohen

Sam Cohen is that guy you can't have a conversation with without bringing up Michael Mann. He is also incapable of separating himself from his teenage angst (looking at you, Yellowcard). Read on as he tries to formulate words about movies!

Latest posts by Sam Cohen (see all)

• MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Popstar’ has at least a few hits - June 3, 2016
• MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising’ is the rare sequel that tries - May 21, 2016
• MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Nice Guys’ is a loopy, drunk masterpiece - May 20, 2016