Frank (2014)

Film: Frank (2014)
Stars: Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, Michael Fassbender
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Sometimes I sort of wonder what the point of hiring certain actors are for roles where they disguise their gorgeous, otherworldly beauty.  Look at something like Charlize Theron in Monster or Johnny Depp in pretty much every movie of the past decade.  Movie stars are a rare breed in the vein of giant pandas or thoughtful politicians, so I have never quite gotten the appeal of covering up their faces in roles, which was one of my principle problems with the film Frank, a movie that has a fine enough plot but for some reason casts Michael Fassbender, arguably the handsomest man in motion pictures, as a character whose face is obfuscated throughout most of it, completely hidden behind a giant fake head.

(Spoilers Ahead) This is partially why I avoided the film when it was released in theaters last year, even though it had solid reviews and was released in that drought period where art houses even consider doing something truly atrocious like playing The Avengers in 3-D (I just saw yesterday that mine is doing this, and yet I still can’t find Tangerines in theaters anywhere).  The movie is about a young, aspiring rock-and-roll musician named Jon (Gleeson) who, by happenstance, ends up as a member of an eclectic alternative band, including a continually angry theremin player named Clara (Gyllenhaal) and a lead singer named Frank (Fassbender) who is consistently positive and kind, and creates fascinating if totally eclectic music.  Also, he constantly wears a giant paper-mache head over his own head, signifying some sort of mental illness.

The film's plot proceeds in a completely routine direction-we find that Jon loves the band, fits right in, and is enamored with Frank while competition for Clara.  If you want to do a feminist reading of the movie (which on occasion I feel you should, if only to keep your eyes firmly open), it's not particularly kind to women, as Clara is overtaken for being more powerful than Jon throughout the movie, even if the ending is a bit kinder to her than he.

The film's routineness (rise, fall, rise again) means that you have to rely upon performance, music, and the little touches to see if you rise above it (really, there's only forms on conflict in literature, so everything comes down to these touches).  The film's performances are all strong, with Fassbender as the standout, though I still think he's wasted in this sort of role considering how he should be playing characters where, while his looks aren't center-stage, they should at least be on-display (you think Cary Grant or Ava Gardner would have sacrificed their prime beauty years like that?).  I quite like Domhnall Gleeson's naivete, and the way that his inner-monologue shows how oblivious he is to reality, in many ways mirroring that of Frank himself.  The film doesn't have the musical inventiveness to classify Frank as a genius like it does while Jon decidedly is not, but that's always a tall order when you have entirely new music.

My biggest problem with the film may have been that it plays the twee-ness for a bit too long.  The film has this motley, Wes Anderson-style crew of characters, and it's hard to see how they functioned without dying before Jon joined the group-there's no sense of reality, even around Scoot McNairy's band manager Don, and you are left to wonder what exactly the purpose is here.  If it's simply that misfits need to fit together, it feels a bit pedantic and cruel to shove Jon out of the group, as he is also a misfit, which is what happens in the end.  Really, the ending left a bitter taste in my mouth even if the first half of the film was occasionally watchable-why should Jon and not Clara or Frank be blamed for trying to pursue the dreams of everyone involved.

These are the sorts of questions I don't feel like the film is really willing to answer, getting bogged down with a cast of very hip young actors and occasionally compelling story mechanisms.  At least these were my thoughts-I always love to get yours.  What did you think of Frank?  Do you also find it annoying when beautiful actors get shoved behind makeup and prosthetics?  Share your thoughts in the comments!