An inspired re-imagining of a cult northern figure.

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2014)

First of all, this is not a straight up biography of Chris Sievey whose stage name was Frank Sidebottom. The film is inspired by journalist Jon Ronson's article about his time spent playing the keyboards for Frank Sidebottom. What we see in this film is the inspiration taken from Frank Sidebottom's iconic papier mache head, only it is worn by a character who resembles many iconic front men whose image is shrouded in mental illness and mystique. While Frank is the title of the film, he is not the central character. Domhnal Gleeson is the Jon Ronson character who narrates the story about having a pedestrian job and living in a small town, but having aspirations to be a song writer. In his spare time, he walks around the idyllic beach town he lives in looking for lyrical inspiration, but never seems to come up with anything good. During a chance meeting with eccentric avant guard band with the unpronounceable name 'Soronprfbs', he is offered to replace their keyboard player for their show as he is trying to drown himself in the sea. When Jon turns up and plays keyboards for what turns out to be a disastrous show due to technical hitches followed by a band squabble, the enigmatic Frank (Michael Fassbender) is impressed that he wants him to be in the band.
Jon leaves his town and travels to a remote studio in Ireland with the band. Problems arise as he tries to fit in to this band of misfits. He has to get used to the idea that Frank never takes off his head.ever! While he is impressed and in general admiration of Frank and his general eccentric demeanour and his nonchalant ability to write beautiful songs about rudimentary objects like a tuft in a carpet, the rest of the band is hostile towards Jon, especially Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who does not trust him. She thinks that his rather generic approach to song writing will negatively affect Frank. Frank and Clara seem to be a solid experimental song writing duo, but Jon wants some song writing input. In a key scene, we see Jon who after a few unsuccessful attempts, has an idea for a song. While on the keyboard playing his idea to Frank and Clara, Frank starts to make suggestions to make the song more interesting. Clara starts to join in and the songs evolves into something completely different, prompting Jon to storm off.
Due to the band been isolated and overworked, this gives way to much odd behaviour which is fitting to the bands eccentricity. Jon is capturing a lot of footage and putting it on Twitter to raise the bands profile. He manages to get them a gig in SxSW in Texas. The whole situation is exacerbated by increasing tension between Jon and Clara and Frank's mental illness.
I was generally very impressed with this film for so many reasons. The balance between the comedy and the level of depth it goes in to themes like mental illness and creativity is really impressive. Some scenes have a lighter and comedic tone, but it is not afraid to be dark and tragic when it needs to be. The character Frank embodies the enigmatic tortured genius's such as Daniel Johnston, Captain Beefheart, Anton Newcomb and Syd Barrett. Michael Fassbenders performance, although largely a vocal performance due to the constant wearing of a papier mache head is brilliant. His performance is more reliant on vocal and physical expression which he executes with aplomb. Domhnal Gleeson gives a good performance as a character who becomes increasingly unlikeable as the film goes on. Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a fine moody and irritable performance as the other song writing genius Clara who is not interested in fame, unlike Jon who has more ambition.
What impressed me most of all is the portrayal of the music involved. I feel it was Directed by someone who understands experimental music and the people behind these crazy sounds. The music itself is very inspired and the performances are also very well executed by the cast. The last performance near the end of the film is nothing short of beautiful, not only for the music, but it's point made about mental illness. It shatters the myth reflected in the character Jon's naivety about how mental illness is synonymous with song writing credibility. In another crucial scene where Jon goes to look for Frank after he has ran away, he finds him at his family home in a place similar to Jon's hometown. This is shown rather subtly by repeating the image of a man spraying his garden and waving at Jon. It happens at the beginning of the film in Jon's hometown, then happens again when he goes to Bluff, Kansas which is Franks hometown. Jon sees through Frank's well kept home and his seemingly level headed parents that he has come from a normal and prosperous background rather than the tormented and dark image of Frank he had in his head. The parents tell him that Frank had always been musical and that his mental illness hindered rather than enhanced his song writing ability.
The message of the head is an interesting one. I think Frank wears the head because there is something inside him which wants people to like him, so he wants to create an iconic image which is positive due to the cartoonish expression. It gives this mystique and eccentric charisma needed which he could not achieve if he did not have a head. As Jon asks 'What goes on inside the head inside that head?' The answer is a combination of many attributes creating one of the most interesting characters and one of the most remarkable films so far this year.