Frank Review

     

Some films can come along fairly innocuously without hype or publicity and then when you watch them they impress on a monumental scale, Frank is that film for this year. Based loosely on writer Jon Ronson’s time spent playing keyboard in Frank Sidebottom’s band, it goes much further, and other than the giant paper mache head Frank is much more an amalgamation of musical talents such as Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart. The film follows hapless wannabe musician Jon, who somehow manages to land himself a role as the keyboard player in a band with an unpronounceable name lead by their frontman and almost mystical leader Frank. The film focuses on the intense year behind the creation of their album, but is more about what it takes to be a great songwriter, and also the fine line between genius and madness, what makes Frank as great as he is? And if you take away Franks uniqueness what does the music become?  The film is, in short, marvellous, it is a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy without one of those disciplines ever undermining the other, the music is brilliant, every performance is wonderful and I haven’t laughed more consistently at a film this year. The final scene is one of my favourites of this year, it shows how after all the bullshit of the music industry with people desperately dying to “make it”, music in its purest form has the incredible power to bring people together.  (High 5 Stars)