Let’s be ‘Frank’

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.

Based loosely on 1970s English comedian and musician Frank Sidebottom, with more than a little of Daniel Johnston’s childlike creativity and Syd Barrett’s darker days thrown into the mix, Frank debuts in theaters Aug. 15.

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