good indie flick

Rating: 8/10 (16 September 2019)

This dramedy follows a callow young man's experience as keyboardist in an avant-garde band headed by a guy who never removes the big puppet-head that covers his face. In spite of what some people say, it's not really all that weird by indie-film standards, but it is quite entertaining, with a deservedly praised performance by Fassbender and an excellent, overlooked one by Maggie Gyllenhaal as his fierce theremin player.
While a lot of people complain about a shift in tone as the movie progresses, describing it as a wacky comedy that inexplicably turns dark, to me the movie feels all of a piece. It's not all *that* funny in the first part and not all *that* dark in the last, and really, if you are surprised that the movie delves into mental illness then I feel you weren't really paying attention to the story.
The movie has a lot to say about art and artists, but what it's saying isn't explicit, and the movie leaves the viewer with questions. Not questions you need to answer, but questions to ponder.