Rock ‘n’ roll has always been loaded to the amps with gimmicks: The Beatles’ suits, KISS’s makeup, Michael Jackson’s glove. But the curiosity-seeking bandleader at the heart of a new indie comedy has let his gimmick go straight to his head.
In Frank, Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender plays an enigmatic rocker who has fashioned a homemade papier-mache mask and never takes it off. Equal parts Almost Famous and Portlandia, Frank is every bit a biting satire of Gen Y indie culture and a heartfelt rumination on creativity and mental illness.
“If I am to grow as an artist, I must see as [Frank] sees,” says the film’s narrator and Frank’s bandmate Domhnall Gleeson (also appearing in the upcoming Star Wars Episode 7), who plays the Everyman thrust into the absurdities of Frank’s group.
