Frank (2014)

A beautiful film, extremely well done body acting by Michael Fassbender and very fun score. I still have the soundtrack and listen to the closing song almost weekly. The score imitates pretentious indie culture music and pokes at the lack of talent it can take to make music. While mockingly pretentious, it is still enjoyable and not *too* artsy fartsy. It's odd characters and dialogue create a mystical quirky feel to it that had me thinking about . Lots of the funny parts are done in the classic dry British humor, mixed with sarcasm. It also had parts that were just childish and fun, and brought out the humour of the entire situation in the plot. Although it plays around with satire and nihilism, it also features some dark moments and messages about suicide and depression, in a very realistic manner.I'd say the movie only falls short in plot progression as it slows towards one part, but otherwise the acting, cinematography, score, and writing are all top notch.

"Frank" explores the fine and not-so-fine line between creative genius and insanity. Although you might assume a movie about an alternative rock band with a lead singer who wears a giant fake head that he never takes off would be a work of fiction, the truth, as they say, is stranger, and provides a compelling basis for a movie."Frank" is co-written by Jon Ronson based on his experience playing keyboard in the Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band in the late '80s. Frank Sidebottom was the alter ego of a man named Chris Sievey, who wore a giant fake head almost identical to the one Frank (Michael Fassbender) wears in the movie. Ronson based the film's main character, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) on himself; both real and fictional Jon found themselves randomly in this band, ditching their existing lives in pursuit of musical greatness, trying to make sense of the enigma of the man in the giant head.With screenwriter Peter Straughan's ("Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy") help, Ronson dives into a fictional replication of his experience with the band. Gleeson's Jon is an aspiring songwriter completely lacking in inspiration who gets an unusual opportunity to play a gig for an experimental band called Soronprfbs after he witnesses their keyboardist attempting to drown himself. Jon has the time of his life and agrees to travel to Ireland with the group, only to discover it's not a road trip to play a few shows, but a retreat at which the unorthodox Frank will stop at nothing until he's recorded an astounding new album.For all the mystery shrouding his character, Frank is far from the most eccentric band member. In fact, he's the most congenial. We also learn about the other keyboardist, Don's (Scoot McNairy), volatile history with mental illness and musician Clara's (Maggie Gyllenhaal) propensity for violence. Unsurprisingly, Jon's gleaning from it all is that deep adversity and mental anguish is a pre- requisite to talent.Director Lenny Abrahamson brings a natural yet surreal quality that honors the weirdness of the story, while also helping us access the psychology of the characters and take interest in what's happening in a very rooted way. He keeps the reality of what's going on with its characters in play while experimenting with a number of scenes that push the bizarreness to varying levels. There are elements of black comedy, but also of honest, soul-stirring truth.The first half of "Frank" focuses more on the creative process and the mental headspace necessary to operate at peak creativity. When Jon signs them up for a very promising gig and begins pushing his own creative agenda, forcing the story to leave the confines of the Ireland vacation home, the film turns to examine the real pain of its characters and what happens to creativity when complications of fandom and notoriety enter the mix.Throughout it all we see a gradual change in Jon as a character, and he becomes less likable because of all that his dreams and naiveté have wrought. This has a slightly adverse effect on the viewing experience, making it kind of painful to watch all these troubled characters with their misguided attitudes drown themselves in a sea of expectations and principles. At the same time, this leads to an honest, moving redemptive arc in the final half hour of the movie, when this bizarre flower of a story opens up to reveal its fragile insides."Frank" can feel rough and disjointed tonally at points and grow a little irksome, but much like how a band with a weird sound still has artistic integrity somewhere underneath that drives that creative choice, "Frank" stays committed to looking at talent, creativity and mental illness in a very authentic, productive way that makes it worth the quirks.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Frank follows an aspiring musician who gets recruited by a band led by an eccentric lead singer who wears a paper mache head. For starters this is a very unique movie, much more so than I expected. It seems like everyone is just a little insane, and it gives the movie a cartoonish, somewhat over-the-top vibe that I really enjoyed seeing. And yet it was still realistic. The characters are relatable in some ways, and most all of them are a lot of fun to watch. The way the movie decides to use comedy is always very natural. It never goes out of it's way to make jokes, but rather uses a lot of comedic imagery as it comes. It uses Frank's paper mache head in this way often, and thus it never feels out of place because this guy wears the head everywhere. It knows what it is and uses that fact to it's advantage. And when it isn't imagery, it's from the characters and it still works incredibly well. Probably the best aspect of the movie is the characters. Yes, they're a lot of fun, but there is plenty of emotional investment in them too. Despite their instabilities, I completely fell in love with them. Most of them seem to go deeper than what the audience sees, save for maybe two of them, whom I often forgot about. Regardless, they weren't unlikable characters so it was mostly forgivable. The music is actually pretty good. It all sounds very unique, and it does a great job of selling the motives of the main characters to create different music, or sometimes even use psychology to make great music. Furthermore, the soundtrack is great for the movie, as everything is already so weird that normal music just wouldn't work. Overall Frank is great. The characters, the acting, the comedy, the music, everything is great. It's a blast to watch and I can't wait to see it again. In the end I would definitely recommend this movie.

I didn't expect much from Frank other than from what I heard was a stellar performance from Michael Fassbender but boy was I in for a surprise. Frank is easily one of my most top 20 films of all time and I really do love this film. Almost all of the characters are great and complex from Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Don (Scoot McNairy), and of course none other than Frank (Michael Fassbender). These characters are all superb and the only 2 people I really had trouble with were the other 2 band members other than whatever his name was having a french accent he was forgettable and so was the woman who played the drums. Frank was a different movie and often took turns and was quite fun in the sense that it was truly unpredictable something that is almost impossible to find in modern day films, the film provided interesting characters and music. Now I must say the music in Frank is an acquired taste but it's unpredictable and in that way I think it mirrors the film. I'm not quite sure if Frank is on Blu-ray seeing as that I watched it on Netflix but if it is pick it up this movie is superb in almost every way and is truly different from anything else out there today.