"Not everyone can be Frank." - Don
This sentence is spoken via Don (played by Scoot McNairy) - one of the bandmates to the enigmatic Frank (played by Michael Fassbender). It's also the phrase that carries the film ahead to a zone beyond mediocrity.
One can gush about the performances, which are overall quite good, but what makes Frank soar higher than it should is it's explorations of public perception within the confines of technology and concepts that embody what it means to be "Frank."
Despite the title of the film our eyes do not follow the mind of Frank, but rather a band member who made his way in due to a stroke of luck: Jon (played by Domhnall Gleeson). He becomes their keyboardist and quickly establishes a social media network composed of twitter and youtube that are utilized to bare witness to the band's quirky antics.
Makes sense. Who wouldn't want to follow every move of a band named Soronprfbs?
With the views and followers rising with every video and tweet, Jon seizes the moment to convince the rest of the band that this is something to be embraced. Most of the band don't buy into it, but the centerpiece, Frank, does. This is where a sense of unlikability plays into the main character.I suppose the best way to describe it is with a question: Is it still a character arc if that arc is upside down?
It's a manipulation of social media that creates this development. The band known as Soronprfbs belong in their own world. Jon sees them as insane yet interesting and dedicates himself to exposing them to the world whom he thinks will embrace them.
It turns out to be quite the opposite. Frank and his crew are the proverbial Frank-ensteins. And here is Jon introducing them to the mob. The social media world actually views them as freaks, their tweets and comments burn and sting as if they had torches and pitchforks in hand.
This is what makes it transcendent of the typical indie band fare and it carries the concept through to the end despite a role from Maggie Gyllenhaal that I'm not sold on and the occasional lull in story.
Frank brought up the thought that maybe somethings are better left unchanged. It's a familiar lesson, to be sure, but it stands out because of the way it went about exploring it. There's technology that hurts rather than helps, unknown wannabes that just want to be heard, and the people who are "Frank" with them, letting it be known that maybe people aren't cut out for that sort of thing either.
Oh, and there's a song that says "Kiss me, just kiss me Nefertiti."
★★★★
