Too odd for me

Rating: Null/10 (1 January 2015)

This strange movie was inspired by the experience of writer Jon Ronson who spent a while as a keyboard player with a band led by the late British Chris Sievey, the creator the comedy character Frank Sidebottom who wore a huge head which he never removed. The cast includes two actors whom I really admire: Michael Fassbender who plays the eponymous mystery figure and Maggie Gyllenhaal who is one of the band players. Both actors are known for willing to take roles out of the mainstream - think "Shame" for Fassbender and "Secretary" for Gyllenhaal - but I have no idea why they would waste their time on this oddity.
In so far as the film seems to pose any kind of question worth thinking about, it seems that both the group at the heart of the 'story' and the film itself are asking us: should art be simply for the artist or should it aspire to an audience? I guess "Frank" is like an optical illusion: you either get it or you don't - and I didn't. Many critics loved it, but I found it slow, pretentious, self-indulgent and - frankly (pun intended) - boring. I gather it was supposed to be a comedy but I found it simply sad.