10 Certified Fresh 2014 Movies That Nobody Saw
2. Frank
In Frank, one of Michael Fassbender's best performances isn't even visible for most of the film. For in this melancholy musical comedy about how often madness goes hand-in-hand with genius, Fassbender spends most of the running time hidden inside a giant plaster head.
It's a bold approach by writer-director Lenny Abrahamson, to hide away one of the more handsome faces in Hollywood, but it works - the restriction seems to bring something wild out in Fassbender, oddly charming and funny as Frank, mercurial musician and lead singer in avant-garde rock outfit the Soronprfbs. It's when the mask comes off late on that Frank reveals what it really is: a serious film about mental illness hiding behind a mask of humour.
Rounding out the cast of oddballs are Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Scoot McNairy, as the Soronprfbs's keyboardist, theremin player and producer, respectively. But really they're all there to behold the genius of Fassbender's Frank - and so is the audience, enraptured by something offbeat and hilarious that's set to self-destruct at any minute.