Just one look at the poster for Frank you might guess that you are in for a bizarre experience, and you would be right in a sense, but even stranger is how stranded in reality these characters turn out to be. The film begins with an aspiring musician named Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) struggling to write a song.

Early on it is evident that this is a comedy with dark themes. When an alternative band by the name of “Soronprfbs” loses their keyboard player, to a psychotic episode on the beach, Jon is asked to take his place. On his first night with the band a man in a large fake head enters the stage singing (closer to speaking) unrelated words along with the music.

The masked man is Frank (Michael Fassbender), the front-man of a band with some serious mental issues. Frank never removes the head, to eat he only drinks pureed food through a straw and cleans his face with a rag on a stick. Jon and the audience are urged to just accept the behavior.

While the film itself is fictional, the character of Frank is based on Frank Sidebottom, played on stage and television by late English comedian Chris Sievey.
Later in the movie, Jon decides to leave his office job to record an album with the band and is taken to some cabins in the wilderness where the six band mates will stay until they are finished. From the opening seconds this is very much a comedy, though, one would definitely require a certain palette for the often morbid places this film goes. I had no idea what I was walking into, but was pleasantly surprised. The audience was laughing consistently throughout and it never once got boring.

Frank is endearing as an outcast who finds his calling in the “furthest corners of the world”. Michael Fassbender delivers a funny/heartbreaking performance from behind the large paper mache head. Maggie Gyllenhaal does well as the temperamental right-hand-woman to Frank.

The film is all around very entertaining. I can’t find really anything to complain about, although musicians may appreciate certain jokes more so than anyone else. It is inspired by a black comedy about a band trying to create something unique and special, and I believe the film succeeded in portraying the same idea.

Grade: B+