Michael Fassbender permanently wearing a comical head is the essential premise of 'Frank', and it’s a film as odd as that sentence promises.
But despite its charm and offbeat humour, it’s a story that never quite hits the mark.
Jon (Domnhall Gleeson) is a music-loving loner who just wants to write a great song. He stumbles across offbeat band Soronprfbs, led by the mysterious Frank (Michael Fassbender), who never removes his large papier mache head. When Soronprfbs is without a keyboard player, Jon tags along when they move to Ireland to record their album, and pushes them towards bigger and brighter things — namely, the South By Southwest musical festival in Texas — which gives the band a new kind of attention that comes unwanted.
The film is based on the life of a guy that really did sing and wear a massive fake head, and it’s the kind of premise that promises to make a really great comedy. There’s a special brand of quirk found within 'Frank' that’s highly enjoyable to begin with, but that I grew somewhat tired of it before too long.
The cast is uniformly excellent; Michael Fassbender’s performance is so bizarre that it has to be seen to be believed. Domnhall Gleeson is charmingly awkward, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is a bizarre yet welcome choice as sullen synth player Clara. It’s a perfectly entertaining film until the third act, when the illusion of 'Frank' is shattered, and so is the film’s whimsical demeanour.
Kudos for the filmmakers for taking a road less travelled, and ignoring all the signs pointing towards a Hollywood ending — but it’s somewhat of a downer considering the offbeat hilarity of the rest of the film. 'Frank' was an enjoyable trip to the cinema, but the film about creativity, madness, and loyalty comes across as a B-side rather than a number one.
★★★
written by Alexandra Donald
