Some films are weird. Like ones directed by David Lynch. Some films are bizarre. Who remembers John Waters? And then there’s Frank. Frank may not the most confusing or truly out there film I’ll ever see, but, well, lemme describe this:
Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) is a terrible songwriter. His creativity as a musician is middling at best and his lyrics are a throwback to Dana Carvey‘s “Choppin’ Broccoli” SNL sketch. His attempts to create music out of life border on the desperate — riding the bus home, his eyes wander and his thought bubble narration shouts, “♪Lady in the red coat! With the brown bag! …” then silence , then another passed woman inspires,” ♪Lady in the blue coat! … Do you know the lady in the red coat?” Later, after discovering his hit tune of the day is actually a song by Madness, he glumly returns to experience life anew.
And boy does life happen. Stumbling upon a random suicide attempt, Jon discovers the band Soronprfbs (hope you don’t need pronunciation closure; you won’t be getting any) suddenly in need of a keyboardist. “Meet at the stage door at 9.” The van takes off mid-question about rehearsal. Jon does come to that 
stage door, and not unlike Alice, steps through and finds wonderland in the form of an empty keyboard awaiting him on stage. He approaches and stares at it. The other band members pay him no attention. Their music is, well, the most generous term would be “atonal.” And just when you wondered if this were a piece of performance art, Frank (Michael Fassbender) steps on stage. From the neck down, Frank is a normal human being. Frank, however, chooses to wear a giant paper-mache humanoid bobblehead superimposed on top. The head never comes off. This is the lead singer.
This disaster ends with technical difficulties and Jon leaves confused and slightly disappointed. And then a week later, Soronprfbs finds him; they steal the kid and sequester him for an album-generating odyssey in Ireland.
“I told my work I’d be back Monday.”
“Why did you do that?”
You have to really think about this for a sec, because Jon represents the mediocre 
wannabe in all of us — here’s your big break in showbiz, which is great so long as you can take a band leader dressed as a mascot 24/7, an aggressive and angry theremin (good ahead, look it up) player (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who hates you, the inability to return to job, family, friends, home for a year, creating music that is at best an acquired taste, oh, and it’s possible all the band members are literally certifiably insane. Ever asked yourself, “how badly do you want your dreams?” Is it this badly?
Frank is comedrama which is a bit of a mistake; it’s impossible to take seriously a leader who looks like Mr. Met. His calling attention to inner facial expressions, e.g. “humble surprise,” is a bedrock of classic comedy. A band member suicide? Less. I’m calling Frank a classic 4 a.m. movie — if you’re up with ten friends at 4 a.m. and Frank comes on, you’ll remember it with fondness for the rest of your life. Otherwise, you gotta be one Hell of a movie watcher to even venture in this neighborhood.
♪I packed my lunch inside my exoskel
A dome of papier-mâché
And I’m gonna have awesome helmet hair, my friend
I miss fresh air and sanity
And wiping off my face
In such a closed off frame
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time
Til I’m invited to somebody’s house
Am I the man you think I am beneath?
Who knows? Cause I’m a bobble man
Bobble man
Spouting out lyrics by myself. ♫
Rated R, 95 Minutes
D: Leonard Abrahamson
W: Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan
Genre: WTF?!
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Tumblr addicts
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Easily perplexed fogies
♪ Parody inspired by “Rocket Man”
