By DECLAN HERTEL Staff Writer
Many of my favorite musicians fit the idea of the “tortured artist”: a person with a tumultuous past, who has never been quite right, who creates beautiful works of art because of their messed-up life. It seems that we all idolize and romanticize these sorts of people to an extent.
I would wager that every artist at some point has wished they were a long-suffering artist, to have an endless pool of inspiration born of misery and sorrow. This idolization and worship of the “tortured artist” is what gives Leonard Abrahamson’s brilliant film “Frank” its purpose.
It is difficult to articulate what makes this movie so great without taking away some of what makes this movie so great. You can know about the incredible music though. The music is phenomenal. The whole film is a trip through our perceptions of art and genius, and I do mean a trip.
The film moves quickly through scenes depicting the trials and tribulations of Jon Burroughs (Domnhall Gleeson), a wanna-be musician that gets thrown headlong into the Soronprfbs, an inexplicably named experimental band led by the enigmatic and seemingly genius Frank, played masterfully by Michael Fassbender.
Jon’s dweeby, mainstream-grounded personality clashes with all the other members of the band, especially the domineering, violent, humorless synthesizer/theremin player, Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
These people, including the guitarist that speaks only French (François Civil) and a near completely silent drummer (Carla Azar) make “Frank” feel very much like a Wes Anderson film, if Wes Anderson decided to do an introspective, nuanced dark comedy.
“Frank” is very funny, but one still feels the pain and fears of the characters even through all the shenanigans, a credit to the direction and performances contained in the speedy 95-minute runtime. Every bit of violence is played for laughs right up until the dust settles and you realize what it means for the characters.
The film has a number of things to say about art and humanity, and says them all well. The clash of the hipster, artsy foundation of the band with the mainstream-minded Jon is a battle for the ages.
Jon’s obsession with Frank and desire to be a genius like him will be familiar to many an artist. “Frank” postulates that people are deeper than they might appear on the surface, and it is important to remember that though they might be a genius, there’s a real person under the hood.
