Frank Sidebottom, the alter-ego of Chris Sievey, was a musician who gained a small amount of fame in the 80s and 90s. He was recognisable because of the large fibreglass head worn throughout all his performances and his northern nasal twang. The film Frank is inspired by that character but it is not a biopic of the singer. The character Frank is American and the music performed by the band is mostly very different to that produced by Sidebottom.
Domhnall Gleeson is Jon, a young office worker living a dull existence in an English seaside town. Playing keyboards in his room, he dreams of becoming a successful songwriter and musician. A chance encounter with some touring band members on the beach, resulting in his replacing the keyboard player for that night’s gig, seems to give him the opportunity to fulfil his dreams. The band is fronted by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank, who never removes his large fake head onstage or off.
He joins the band full time, and a prolonged rehearsal and recoding session for an new album, which he records and puts on You Tube, results in a chance to play at the South by Southwest festival. The band make their way to Texas, assuming that they are about to become a success, but then things start to tear the group apart…
Despite the oddball characters, this film boils down to a fairly straightforward story of a band members falling out when a newcomer is introduced into the dynamic. Although being encased in the giant head for most of the film, Michael Fassbender is pretty impressive as the troubled singer. Glesson does well portraying both the initially naïve and then the wiser Jon, and Maggie Gyllenhall is good as the slightly unhinged band member Clara.
The director, Lenny Abrahamson, does well to mix the light hearted elements of the story with the much darker moments, and some of the music, particularly when they have perfected their songs at the end of their time in Ireland, is excellent. However the story is pretty obvious and quite slight. I couldn’t help thinking a straight biography of the fascinating Sidebottom (something that the late Sievey didn’t want) may have been much more interesting.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10