Knee-deep in indie-ville oddity; Fassbender has a field day

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2014)

FRANK (2014) ** Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, Francois Civil, Carla Azar, Tess Harper, Bruce McIntosh. Knee-deep in indie-ville oddity to say the least - loosely based on Frank Sidebottom, the late British comic entertainer - depicts sad sack office drone wanna be musician Gleeson winding up as a member of a truly eccentric band of artistes, including the titular ring-leader who wears a ginormous Mardi-Gras mask resembling the Coney Island mascot Tillile (Fassbender having a field day by obscuring his ruggedly handsome visage and taking a huge leap of faith) who takes him along for a ride of a lifetime; genius obscurity. While the disjointed storyline by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan and listless direction by novice Lenny Abrahamson barely gel for a rote fish-out-of-water dramedy it does enable the viewer of what the cult of personality can do (and undo) while skirting across the mental health issues outweighed by the free fall of creativity.