Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

Frank Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 12, 2014

Screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Lenny Abrahamson's "Frank" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Curzon Film World/Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; deleted scenes; behind the scenes featurette; audio commentary with Lenny Abrahamson, actor Domhnall Gleeson, and composer Stephen Rennicks; and second audio commentary with writers Jon Ronston and Peter Straughan. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The band

Young and ambitious musician Jon (Domhnall Gleeson, True Grit, About Time) is invited to join an avant-garde rock band when its keyboardist attempts to drown himself. Convinced that recognition and glory are just around the corner, Jon enthusiastically accepts the invitation and the band heads to the countryside to record their next album.

The leader of the band is Frank (Michael Fassbender, Hunger, Shame), a shy genius who wears a huge plastic head. Frank eats with a straw and does not take off the plastic head even when he showers. The band’s second influential figure is Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko, Secretary), a seemingly perpetually upset beauty who has her own ideas how the band should sound and act while performing in front of its fans. Most of the time Frank and Clara get along well, but occasionally they argue and the band's remaining members are forced to choose a winner.

The band is eventually invited to perform at the SXSW music festival in front of an enthusiastic crowd of fans, the overwhelming majority of whom have discovered it through Youtube, and a few reporters. Shortly after the band gets on the stage, however, Frank collapses. Instead of destroying its image, the event cements the band’s image as an underground sensation. Jon and Frank find then peace in a cheap motel, but after a few angry exchanges the genius with the plastic head disappears.

Frank, the new film from Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, is in a category of its own. It is part melancholic comedy, part acid drama that fits somewhere between the works of Gus van Sant and Takashi Miike. Indeed, it has that unique ability to completely detach the viewer from contemporary reality and make even the utterly bizarre look reasonable.

The events in the film are seen strictly through Jon’s eyes. As he becomes closer with Frank his ambitions evolve and he begins to see the world around him differently. In the process he also learns a lot about his strengths and weaknesses.

Music occupies a major part of the film, but this isn’t a music film. It is about learning to communicate in a wired world and create when all boundaries appear to have been broken. The film can be quite funny at times but also incredibly depressing because many of its observations about modern reality are spot on -- and they aren’t pretty.

The film is loosely based on the memoirs of Jon Ronson, who was the keyboardist for Chris Sievey's comedy character Frank Sidebottom.

The cast is very good. Gleeson’s character transformation is credible and convincing. Gyllenhaal is also excellent as the difficult to communicate with keyboard/synth player. The film’s true star, however, is Fassbender. Despite the fact that his face isn’t seen until the very end, he is chiefly responsible for the film’s identity.

The actors learned to play all of the instruments Frank’s band uses. During the practice sessions and the performance at the SXSW music festival, they performed all of the tracks live.

Director Abrahamson and cinematographer James Mather shot Frank digitally on location in Ireland and the United States. Mather also collaborated with Abrahamson on his directorial debut, Adam & Paul, a black comedy about two drug addicts living in Dublin.

Frank Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lenny Abrahamson's Frank arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Curzon Film World/Artificial Eye.

The film was shot digitally and unsurprisingly detail and clarity are very impressive. Because natural light is captured in a variety of different ways and left unmanipulated occasionally there are some minor contrast fluctuations, but they are part of the film's original image design. These fluctuations are present during indoor and outdoor footage (see screencaptures #8 and 10). Sharpness levels remain stable. Colors are stable and natural. There are no encoding or compression anomalies to report in this review. Lastly, overall image stability is outstanding. All in all, this is a fantastic technical presentation of Frank that is guaranteed to please its admirers as we as viewers who are going to experience the film for the fist time on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Frank Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. Also included is a Descriptive Audio (LPCM 2.0) track. For the record, Curzon Film World have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

Depth and clarity are absolutely outstanding. The music sounds excellent and there are even some interesting sound effects. The dialog is exceptionally crisp, stable, and always very easy to follow. In terms of dynamic movement there isn't a sizable difference between the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and the LPCM 2.0 track. However, there are a couple of sequences that are definitely more effective with the former.

Frank Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Frank. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a gallery of deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Sound Promo - in this featurette, sound designer and rerecording mixer Steve Fanagan, rerecording mixer Ken Galvin, and supervising sound editor Niall Brady discuss the use of music in Frank and some of the very specific on-location challenges director Lenny Abrahamson and his team faced (while capturing sound and music and creating the unique sound effects). In English, not subtitled (10 min).

• Behind the Scenes Featurette - standard featurette with clips from different interviews with cast/crew members and raw footage from the shooting of the film. In English, not subtitled. (14 min).

• Audio Commentary with Lenny Abrahamson, Actor Domhnall Gleeson, and Composer Stephen Rennicks - the three gentlemen discuss the scoring of the film (not only the use of music but also the different types of songs that were considered during the preproduction process), the shooting of key sequences (the film was shot in Ireland and the U.S.), the main relationships, Michael Fassbender's performance, etc.

• Audio Commentary with Writers Jon Ronston and Peter Straughan - the two writers discuss the different drafts of the first script for Frank (initially there were various flashbacks and flash-forwards in it, but after director Lenny Abrahamson joined the project they were discarded), Frank's head and the film's production design, the balance between comedy and drama, etc.

Frank Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It takes a bit of time to get used to Lenny Abrahamson's new film -- it takes place in the present but it looks and feels quite surreal and the balance between comedy and drama is very unusual -- but the journey is well worth taking. My feeling, however, is that it would appeal primarily to viewers who enjoy offbeat indie films. If you don't think that you are one of them, consider renting it first. If you enjoy indie films, then place your order now, as Curzon Film World/Artificial Eye's technical presentation of Frank is flawless. I also encourage you to see the Irish director's previous film, What Richard Did, which won multiple IFTA awards in 2013. RECOMMENDED.