MICHAEL FASSBENDER IS THE ONE ON THE LEFT [IN FRANK]

The wrong road to Austin

Frank is a little Irish musical road movie about an obscure band with an unpronounceable name, the Soronprfbs. The multi-national band's story is narrated by Jon Burroughs, who provides the non-angst-ridden audience member with an accessible POV. Jon is an, in this context, oddly normal -- and quite untalented -- redheaded Englishman who inadvertently gets pulled into the band when he happens to be around just as the keyboardist has tried to drown himself and must be taken to hospital. (Jon is played by the rising Dublin-born star Domhnall Gleeson of Anna Karenina, About Time, and Calvary).) The inspiration-challenged but ambitious Jon finds band membership a dream come true and proceeds to promote and chronicle himself and the Soronprfbs relentlessly on social media. His posts gain a growing following as the band's disasters multiiply. Part of the film's relevance is its tweaking of the power of social media to create sudden and inexplicable fame.

The eponymous Frank is the band's eccentric leader. He is played by Michael Fassbender, but the musically talented but mentally unbalanced Frank never takes off a big round funny papier maché mask, not even in the shower, not even to sleep, so Fassbender phones in his performance from a deep well, using a tongue-in-cheek Middle American voice. This detail of a band leader wearing a round funny-face mask is based on "Frank Sidebottom" (Christopher Mark Sievey), and the screenplay was cowritten by the Guardian’s Jon Ronson, a former member of Sidebottom’s band. But Abrahamson says Frank is meant to stand for all outsider musicians.

Jon goes to Ireland with the group where they intend to record an album, a lengthy process he donates most of an inheritance to funding. His social media efforts lead to an invitation for the Soronprfbs to appear at the hipster-friendly Austin, Texas South by Southwest festival, an event that might bring them fame. This is a project appealing to him, but utterly inappropriate to the group's retrusive nature and eccentric aims, though they are persuaded to go, with results even more disastrous than what has come before.

With its meandering character portraits and tales of mishaps and dysfunction, this is a story that narrowly skirts the edge between droll and grim, gradually sliding toward grim before finally floating off into sad, vaguely wistful confusion. It's a movie that may appeal to those who enjoy their quirk served cold (and may associate eccentricity and obscurity with unique talent). It has had a generally warm critical reception (Metacritic raging 75%). But its sad trajectory and nasty characters are off-putting, and it may seem distasteful or incomprehensible to many viewers. A few critics, like former Variety chief critic Todd McCarthy (with whom I tend to agree) find not much to recommend here. McCarthy grudgingly admits in a Hollywood Reporter review (as one must) that "there are fleeting moments of pleasure," but "the best feeling is putting most of [the movie] out of your mind as quickly as possible." McCarthy notes as one of the pleasures "random passages of music" and "an enjoyably ferocious performance" by Maggie Gykllenhaal as Clara, a Theramin player, but she is rarely anything but unpleasant. Likewise other female band member Nana (Carla Azar), too easily confused with Clara, and haughty French member Baraque (François Civil), who speaks to Jon only in his language, simply to be off-putting.

And there is the tormented Don (American actor Scoot McNairy), whose own mental issues and overwhelming adulation for Frank lead to tragedy midway. Everyone has contempt for Jon, except for Frank, who may harbor a secret longing for the upbeat, though his idea of what "upbeat" means is a peculiar one. And there is the nagging issue of the comic bubble mask Frank always wears, which is ha-ha peculiar, to say the least.

While mentally compromised persons have known to be amazing musician-composers, as in the example of jazz great Thelonius Monk, whose half-mournful, half-jaunty songs are unique classics, Frank casts doubt on the idea that craziness is a necessary accompaniment of creative brilliance. The movie winds up being a tug of war between normality and oddity. On the one hand, Frank's mother (Tess Harper) tells Jon he son was always musical and his derangement only got in the way of that. On the other hand, the cheerful, normal Jon is a likeable but talentless doofus whose push toward feel-good, "popular" tunes only wrecks the Soronprfbs.

Frank, 95 mins., debuted at Sundance in January 2014, then showed at SXSW, followed by many other festivals. Its limited US release began 17 (NYC) and 22 August.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.