X
- 2014
- R
- 1 h 35 m
- 2014
- R
- 1 h 35 m
Summary A young wannabe musician, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), finds himself out of his depth when he joins an avant-garde pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Michael Fassbender), a musical genius who hides himself inside a large fake head, and his terrifying bandmate Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
Directed By: Lenny Abrahamson
Written By: Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan
- 2014
- R
- 1 h 35 m
- 2014
- R
- 1 h 35 m
Frank
75
7.1
Where to Watch
Summary A young wannabe musician, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), finds himself out of his depth when he joins an avant-garde pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Michael Fassbender), a musical genius who hides himself inside a large fake head, and his terrifying bandmate Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
Directed By: Lenny Abrahamson
Written By: Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
12% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
12% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
This terrific and sublime experience, and strikingly original film, is mandatory watching for the adventurous viewer.
A delightful, oddball surprise.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 189 User Ratings
7.1
71% Positive
135 Ratings
135 Ratings
21% Mixed
39 Ratings
39 Ratings
8% Negative
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 189 User Ratings
7.1
71% Positive
135 Ratings
135 Ratings
21% Mixed
39 Ratings
39 Ratings
8% Negative
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
Jon wants to be a musician; there's only one problem: he **** at it.
Frank is a musical genius; capable of coming up with a great song in a matter of seconds. He also suffers from a mental illness and always wears a giant paper mache head.
Jon really wants to be like him.
As someome with practically no musical talent, I completely relate with Jon's frustation and feelings towards Frank. Like a mix of jealousy and admiration.
I love how this film explores this feeling I often get, that because I didn't have a tragic past, I somehow don't deserve to be succesful. Like I haven't earned it. Of course, this is all ****
Initially, Jon would love to have a tragic past or a mental illness, because that way he feels he will finally succeed as an artist, like Frank.
But as it's so heartbreakingly revealed to him, Frank's condition isn't some cool quirk that made him talented, but a real illness that must be taken seriously, which is something he never did.
This movie is a truly underrated gem and features one of Michael Fassbender's best performances, and you almost never see his face.
The final scene, when they sing "I Love You All" is pure perfection and it always makes me feel like crying.
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Mr. Abrahamson’s main achievement, enabled by the sensitive and resourceful cast, is to find a tone that is funny without flippancy, sincere without turning to mush.
Off-beat and punk-spirited.
Here’s an eccentric tragicomedy, with music, built to play like gangbusters at Austin’s South by Southwest music-movie fanboy/fangirl festival.
Walking a line between droll comedy and a darker, more unsettling drama that the filmmakers aren’t quite up to, Frank is an entertaining curio with flashes of inspiration. That’s also a pretty good description of Frank’s music.
The mash-up of elements combine with a singularly unpleasant roster of characters to create a work of genuinely off-putting quirkiness.
"Frank" is an unapologetically and poetically eccentric creation. It's a movie of many layers, whose offbeat humour and oddball charm belies a profound depth of insight and perception into difficult topics.
To begin with, it is an extraordinarily drawn concept that is just as extraordinarily realised. Most films depend on certain elements to be consistent throughout in order for the film to work. Frank is rather the opposite. It chops and changes with relish almost everything - from scenery to genre, characterisation to mood - to deliriously inventive effect, giving the film its own distinctive flavour that's a true pleasure to taste. It spits in the face of convention, taking familiar plot points down routes you would not expect them to go. It is a magnificently layered story and a commentary on such themes of artistry, individuality, talent and one of the most difficult topics to talk about in modern film, mental illness, which is given a superbly nuanced and wholly unexpected treatment here that is sensitive and soberingly heartbreaking.
It is the story of Jon (Domhall Gleeson), an aspiring musician whose passion far outweighs his talent, yet manages to fall in with the avant garde outlet Soronprbs helmed by Frank (Michael Fassbender), an equitably weird and wonderful musical genius who is perpetually clad in a papier-mâché head (I told you it was weird.) The other band members are Don (Scoot McNairy), Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and two others who aren't afforded any real significance, focus or complexity in the plot.
The most stunning accomplishment is that, in spite of all the eccentricity, the characters feel very, very real. There is genuine dimension to the performances by Gleeson, Gyllenhaal (she is particularly good, with a caustically tragicomic and layered turn as Clara) and McNairy. All three embrace their characters' flaws and use them to flesh out their portrayals, taking their most unlikeable qualities and realising them as their most human.
And then there is Fassbender. Not many actors would find being clad in a ridiculously large prosthetic head a liberation rather than a limitation. From behind the mask, Fassbender communicates a wealth of emotions - naivete, ambition, genius, artistry and a desire to be liked and share his gifts, all in the face of a blackness that threatens to overwhelm his soul. It is a seminal portrayal of unprecedented complexity and originality. And this applies to the film as a whole. Anyone looking for a film to watch who desires something different does not need to look much further than Frank. There has not been such an individual work in a long, long time.
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Confusing at times and relentlessly bizarre, the film is successful in showing how artists can be consumed by their craft, along with giving Domhnall Gleeson another opportunity to display his engaging acting skills.
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I was expecting a lot better than this. For me the film never really figured out what it wanted to be and, other than the mystery of what's under Frank's fake head, never really held my interest. None of the characters were particularly likeable and behaved in ways that never really made much sense. Ended on quite a flat note as well.
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I felt nothing but contempt for the movie characters and Frank in particular, the theme of the characters appeal seems to be "look at how weird and quirky we are" overall.. I if you're looking for an enjoyable film.. Do yourself a favor and avoid this title. The 3 out of 10 is for the time when someone got stabbed and then hit by a car.
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Whatever you do don't see this, but if you are forced at gunpoint to see Frank, don't pay 16$ at the Arclight. The movie never settles on a voice, but I think was supposed to be tragicomic? Quirky? Is that the word? Painfully boring? Yes, that. Can Maggie Gyllenhall stop singing already? I liked when the one guy died, spoiler, because it meant one less inane character was around to babble inanely. Go watch Paris Texas instead (they mention it in the movie). When this is on netflix instant in a month, still download it illegally.
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Production Company
Element Pictures,
Runaway Fridge Productions,
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board,
Film4
Release Date Aug 15, 2014
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating R
Tagline On May 9, take off the mask
Awards
Irish Film and Television Awards
• 3 Wins & 9 Nominations
British Independent Film Awards
• 2 Wins & 5 Nominations
Film Club's The Lost Weekend
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
