A particularly sideways view of the music industry, “Frank” looks at a band attempting to make it, who in many ways are not entirely sure they agree on what making it means anyway. Is it the art? Is it material success? Is the attempt to combine both inevitably disastrous? And is creating art a kind of madness that can never really be brought under control? We see it through the point of view of Jon, a struggling songwriter who gets involved with the Sornonprfbs, an experimental band led by Frank, who constantly wears a papier-mâché mask and is clearly the genius of the group. As they struggle to record an album, Jon begins to document their work on youtube and twitter, but as they gain a fan following and are invited to the South by Southwest festival, can they hold everything together, and is the public embrace really what they want?
The one-two punch of this and “Room” made Lenny Abrahamson one of the most intriguing directors of the 2010s, and Domnhall Gleeson as Jon has been one of the most interestingly chameleonic performers of the era too (pretty much every role I’ve seen him I’ve been surprised that it’s him – there’s no standard-actor-tricks that make me predict what he’s going to show up as next). And Michael Fassbinder as Frank has a role that allows him to escape from some of the more dour roles he’s been in for the last decade – there’s a kind of melancholy whimsy in the role that sits between sorrow and childish glee. I know for fans of the real Frank Sidebottom this anti-factual treatment of his career might not be what they’re looking for, but it’s a fascinating film that I adore, and having seen plenty of supposedly factual biopics of musicians that entirely miss what their work was really about, I think I prefer something like this that captures the spirit and vibe.
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