Review: Frank (2014)

I was given a rare opportunity over the weekend recently. My husband said he wanted to watch a movie with me and order take-out, and I could pick any movie I wanted. Normally I can only coerce him with an Action/Crime/Thriller, but I was given free reign. Straight away I brought up my watch list and picked a movie I’d been wanting to see for a while, Frank (2014). Pizza was ordered, the movie was set up, and my husband asked me what the movie was about. Erm. I explained it to him in the terms that came to my head straight away. It went something like this:

So, Magneto wears a giant head on his head and calls himself Frank. He makes weird music with a band whose name I can’t pronounce. They need a new band member so General Hux joins them but he’s kind of terrible.

Safe to say, if it weren’t for the fact that the movie was already set up, I was going to have to put Taken on just to make up for this. Thankfully, all it took was Domhnall Gleeson tweeting about an epic cheese and ham toastie to bring my fiance back round again. Man, I could kill for a cheese and ham toastie right now… #nomnomnomnom.

The movie follows the band as they record their new album, and eventually find fame online thanks to Jon (Gleeson) tweeting updates, filming progress and uploading it to YouTube. They eventually get invited to play at SXSW, a huge creative event which excited me as I’ve actually been there! That excitement died a little when I realised they didn’t actually film at the festival, but it was still a cool moment.

It’s the band’s arrival at SXSW where the movie takes a sharp turn and we learn more about Frank (Michael Fassbender) and his struggle with mental illness. The second half is much darker, but it was quite a jarring turn around.

Frank is one of those movies where I’ve had to take a few days to even put my thoughts down in writing. It is, without a doubt, one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen, but I really enjoyed the dark humour aspect of it all. Frank’s ‘Most Likeable Song Ever’ and Jon’s moment with Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) in the hot tub were some of the funniest movie moments ever, and I doubt I’ll forget about them. Actually, any moment where Frank voiced his facial expression was equally hilarious!

I appreciated the ending, and noticed that it almost ended the way it began with a certain scene that I’d have normally missed, but I don’t know how satisfied I am with the closing scene. It made me a little sad. That was short lived though, as the song ‘I Love You All’ was beautiful, and I’m playing it right now whilst I type this.

On reflection, I think I was mad at Frank for making me feel some feelings I wasn’t comfortable with, but now I’ve pondered it for a while, I can appreciate it for what it is. A quirky yet beautiful movie.