弗兰克

抛开人物原型不谈，单纯看这部片子的构成的话，它其实和音乐没啥关系，也和所谓天才与平庸没啥关系，它重要的是人对于自己的认知，对于团体的认知，对于环境的认知。

Jon理解自己的平庸，只是拒绝承认。

"I may not be the best, but I'm far from the worst"，别说，我太懂努力了那么多那么久依然只是piece of shit的感受，也懂那种拼命想要融入团体，无法表达自我，被他人否定和排挤的感受（btw，即使如此，我也更乐意能像Jon一样，如果首先否定自己的话，下场只会像前两任键盘手一样，厚脸皮的人至少能有更多的机会）Frank理解自己的才华，也知道有人欣赏他，但他希望更多人能理解，渴望与世界构建连接，奢望改变别人的想法，这也是他不断妥协和尝试的原因。

Don理解自己的平庸，并把自己和一个无法企及的存在做比较，他想变成一个永远不可能成为的人。

Jon和Don都在钻自己的牛角尖。

我们很难从影片中直观感受到其余几人的能力和水平，但是他们对于自己之外的世界是完全不了解的，也很排斥去了解。

他们对自身是另类这件事有清楚的认知，并且切断了与其他欣赏他们才能的人连接的可能。

我想他们应该才是经历过痛苦的人，而不是Frank。

现在，每个人都对自身的情况有了基本的认知，可以举着自己的标签和环境对号入座了。

Jon，你选择离开了乐队，因为长达一年时间的努力得以看清了，你即使把自己逼到极限，即使做出牺牲，你还是不属于那个录音室，不属于舞台，你没有自己的东西。

Don，你选择离开了所有的环境，因为你在以你自己为最小单位的环境中，都是无法认可自己的（当然这和他的精神疾病也有关系）。

Clara，你们继续留在原地，不被其他人接受，也不在乎其他人的看法，只是在此时此刻此处，三人之间是互相理解的。

而Frank，你是在影片中是唯一做出了改变的人，你尝试走入新的环境中，你渴望被接纳和理解。

但是你最后还是回到了原来的乐队中，因为当你踏出脚步以后，发现其实你只有在那个小环境里，才能做自己，才不会失控，你自己没有强大到可以独立构建连接，改变别人的看法（当然这和他的精神疾病也有关系）你的压力系统仅可支持你在森林中唱歌，最好再带上头套。

千篇一律的办公室也好，网路上的乐子人也好，排挤你的森林小屋也好，所有的环境都是一坨狗屎。

那么，就在各自被接纳的环境里生存吧。

不强迫你摘下头套的地方，也就如同可以摘下头套顺畅呼吸一般。

影片的画幅构图非常漂亮。

色调非常漂亮。

只是这个故事压抑的透不过气来。

1.看了前面5分钟就知道是我近期喜欢的流派，耳朵怀孕的bgm+怪胎主角简直绝配。

2.N久之前看海报以为动画片+1.实则前半治愈后半致郁。

3.法鲨浑身自带萌点。

小黄雨靴来一套!4.神只有1，好像永远都成不了自己所想拥有的最崇高的品格的人，frank这样的怪胎在路人眼中的怪和朋友眼中的屌都是极致，成不了你就让我死在最靠近你的那一刻吧。

5.到此才发现这个眼熟的乐队女成员Clara（惊天危机 魔法保姆）竟是杰克 吉伦哈尔（断背山 夜行者里的hentai）的亲姐+弟弟原来有迷之辉煌的情史+总有一个让人记住演员名字的点...6.都是这么会唱歌的吗!大家都唱的好有味呀!这里的法鲨和begin again里的KK以及众多有超强卡司的音乐歌舞剧 7.唉没有这么好的事情，又想保持独立精神世界又要迎合别人，事情到了那种不管如何发展都好不了的局面，也没什么好做的了。

我知道未来的生活还是处于委屈求全的不爽和尴尬的自持之中，但还是就这样吧。

8.少不了的适配BGM.i love you all - Michael Fassbender

电影一开始的时候第二任Keyboard自杀。

我们不知道第二任keybord为什么自杀，但是DON为什么自杀导演却给了我们完整的过程。

DON最开始在天台上问JON觉得弗兰克如何的时候，DON的眼睛是闪闪发亮的，他真心的崇拜弗兰克，觉得弗兰克是天才，弗兰克的才华让人无可企及。

后来他和JON散步的时候，他又一次感叹弗兰克的天才。

然后是JON作曲的时候，DON觉得JON的曲子不行，说他特别明白想作出好曲子结果却作出shit的心情，然后弹了自己的曲子。

JON说他觉得自己的曲子和DON的曲子都很棒，但是DON说很糟，他们都无法成为弗兰克。

DON想成为弗兰克那样天才的人，但是他知道自己永远无法成为弗兰克。

我觉得这个乐队在电影一开始就有四类人。

弗兰克，Clara。

DON和第二任键盘手鼓手和贝斯JON弗兰克和Clara是不同寻常的天才，他们有着让人惊艳的才华，却也有着致命的缺陷——他们无法迎合世界，无法融于普通的世界。

区别是Clara明白他们就是如此不再强求与世界对接，而弗兰克努力想要让世界接受他们喜爱他们。

DON和第二任键盘手，他们能够触及天才的世界，也有着自己的缺陷，能够融入天才的世界里，也能在伪装之后融于普通人的世界（电影里弗兰克有说，DON现在和普通人谈恋爱，只是得想办法让他的那些恋人不要动），但是正因为能游走于两个世界，所以更明白弗兰克这些人的惊才绝艳和与众不同，也更清楚他自己永远无法成为弗兰克那样的人。

鼓手和贝斯，其实感觉这两个才是看的最清楚的人。

JON，就是normal。

在普通人的眼里这些天才是因为有着各种各样的原因才会成为天才——我不像他那样genius，是因为我不曾经历过那些痛苦。

我们自视甚高自以为是总认为自己无法出名是因为没有机会，但其实内心里很清楚，并不是如此，我们默默无闻，不是因为不努力，其实就是因为自己没有足够的才能。

JON从一开始就想寻求在乐队里的地位，但是他慢慢便明白了DON的话，弗兰克是天才；但是他不认同DON的“我们无法成为弗兰克”，因为他从一开始就没想成为弗兰克而是想让自己成功——这也是他与DON的不同，他和DON看到的不同，追求的也不同。

DON在弗兰克身上看到的是难以企及的才能；而作为普通人的JON，他也爱音乐，想要得到别人的认同，但他同时也看到了由这才华可以在普通社会里得到的东西。

他发推特，发YouTube，极力鼓动大家去参加音乐节，都是因为如此。

他想要乐队出名，但是他想要的与弗兰克想要的不同。

JON的眼里YouTube播放量和弗兰克眼里的YouTube播放量本身就代表这两种东西，JON眼里播放量代表着知名，而弗兰克眼里这代表着“有多少人喜欢他们的音乐，爱着他们”——他们从一开始，就不在一个世界里。

在最后音乐节上台的时候JON很激动的唱了自己的歌，直到这个时刻他追求的依旧是自己能够被众人承认，能够被众人看到，借着因由弗兰克而得到机会……JON从Clara手里抢夺弗兰克，大概是他自己心里一直清楚，没有弗兰克，他走不了那么远，到不了这里。

他始终不明白，弗兰克和他不同，就像他一直在意弗兰克的头套，想摘掉弗兰克的头套，而不是像Clara和DON一样不在意弗兰究竟如何，与弗兰克普通的相处。

电影里在台上弗兰克倒下，JON停止唱歌时，有一个细节，弗兰克说这个真的太烂了，而JON在他们搞砸一切后，回头看了一眼后台的他觉得心仪的女生。

他们关心的、所处的世界，从来不同。

但是，弗兰克所代表的天才们并不是真的不想融于这个世界，他们并非没有尝试过，但他们与生俱来就是不同于常人。

不是不想，而是无法。

弗兰克试过，然后失败了。

Frank，戴着头套，可以张扬自己对音乐的执迷。

在他看来，一切都可以是音乐，一切都可以奏出音符。

戴着面具头套的他，是乐队的灵魂。

Dan说，谁也无法成为Frank。

于是，Dan上吊了，戴着Frank的头套。

当Frank听说有很多人关注他们的音乐，那点击数让他变得怪异。

他紧张又兴奋，面具下的他，不知所措。

Frank还是登台了，但僵硬得无法动弹，最后，他倒下了，面具清晰地出现裂痕，他只说一句：The music is shit。

他最终无法为了融入这个群体，对音乐妥协。

面具伤痕累累，浓妆下的面具，滑稽，讽刺。

所幸的是，结局是好的。

当面具破碎了，Frank重回乐队，一直不敢抬头的他，怯生生地，用音乐去告诉他们：I love you all。

误闯的乔恩，见证完这个精神病患者的乐队的癫狂、离散，默默地退场了。

乔恩，一个怀着音乐热忱的少年，被音乐指引，参与到乐队。

但他渴望被大众所关注，把音乐粉饰后重投入大众的视野。

（流行音乐重包装、重噱头，缺乏感召力，这里被反讽了。

）乔恩，最后总算明白，他不属于这个乐队。

总算明白，他们被关注，并不是音乐本身，而是“你们很搞笑”。

乔恩，不是精神病患者，于是他退场了。

对于艺术的狂热、纯粹，从另一个角度来说，你首先是一个精神病患者。

以下是豆友的点评，觉得写得很好：带上面具你是特立独行散发神秘乖张气质的音乐领袖，脱下面具你只是一个自卑有交流障碍的孤独症患者。

那些真正懂你的人放弃了主流人生轨迹将你包围建立起一个音乐乌托邦用心维护你偏执脆弱的奇才梦。

Frank是一个天才。

Frank是一个怪胎。

怪胎Frank无法成为正常人。

无法成为正常人的怪胎Frank从未放弃想成为被人接受的正常人。

怪胎Frank成为了头套Frank。

Jon是一个正常人。

Jon羡慕怪胎Frank的才华。

正常人Jon认为Frank的才华来自于他的怪胎。

正常人Jon想成为怪胎。

网太挫好不容易啃完Frank的生肉，来写写。

从开头男配的脑内独唱+独白就见识了配乐的强大（里边所有被角色不齿的调调我觉得都挺好听的啊...），并且奠定了全片魔性的风格（并不，是黑色幽默）。

一说片子里两个对立方面，男配是个失败却想成功的人，无时无刻不在找灵感写曲子尽管结果不好，这一点跟Frank他们乐队（SORONPRFBS简称SORO好了）很像很像，这也许是为什么一开始那个键盘手招了男配到gig来。

但同时男配和SORO从一开始也不一样，男配需要twitter跟外界交流、牢骚日常，反正就是对自己音乐人的身份十分认同并且因为不成功不出名整天丧气窜天；SORO干脆是纯粹地下，完全不苦于出不出名，gig也是自己不满意就内讧不演了，后来想出专辑大概也是希望做个成品把自己的概念传播出去，甚至为此在森林里呆了一年，所以那对法国男女说男配disgusting，大家根本就不是一个追求嘛。

二说Frank，实际上是Frank把对立两方融合起来了，可以看出来乐队里他跟男配关系最好。

其实一开始是键盘手找男配入伙的啊，但键盘后来说过他很想成为Frank*，这是从配角角度对主角人格性格的肯定吧，同时也说明了主角会在配角身上有一定映射。

Frank带着大家寻找、制造和录制各种声音（在这想说一下这才是我所认知的音乐的真谛啊！！

不只有旋律，还有各种经过奇妙混合的声音加入到歌曲里面，旋律所表达的一切情感才被真正充实——因为旋律本身并不能让人感同身受，而音效带出的质感和情景才真正接地气有灵魂啊。

顺便这里推首歌，Muse的Animal一定听到最后），他能轻易把人逗开心，就他身上有的那种积极个性阳光完全不能被头套限制，虽然说肯定是因为自闭之类的原因才会戴头套，但这样一来自闭小伙就直面人生了嘛，带给人的灵感鼓励温暖肯定是他自己也想感受到的所以这种力量其他人远远不及。

然后要引出归属感的概念啦，Frank属于SORO，而SORO归于地下——不是那种埋没、隐晦的地下，更多是种自娱自乐和对自己优秀个性风格的保持，同时男配属于大众社会，从Frank的角度来讲男配甚至不属于音乐，加入SORO从一开始的寻找机会发光发热到后来的利用，男配跟SORO群体跟Frank的矛盾越来越突出；其间Frank还想迎矛盾而上，这跟他的自闭和男配的影响都脱不了关系，自闭久了容易被外面的世界吸引从而变得极端想要迎合上去，最后本来说好的big gig失败因为乐队分崩离析，就剩Frank一点点的不甘心（或者说是因为男配的忽悠）追赶着微弱的成功的可能性。

男配一心为了成名完全不顾其他成员的劝阻最后伤害到Frank导致他消失，后来Frank头套没了（鲨鲨上线）让人心疼得想抱抱他根本就没想好该怎么如此面对以前熟悉的环境吧，之后哭着给SORO大家唱的I love you all实在感动感动感动（从特别羞怯的没话找话到自然而然大家一起和出调调节奏和效果器来呜呜呜呜呜，而且还有不常见的法鲨眼泪煽气氛我的麻麻...）本来追求这么一致爱好品味这么统一的大家凑在一起就很棒了啊根本不用出名不是吗。

总之，头套给了Frank归属感于是他安安心心地生活了十几年并且把自己的天分锻炼的超级棒；森林给了SORO归属感所以他们能够沉着气隐居一整年每天都醉心于创作；音乐对男配而言没有归属感他要的不过是出名，前后twitter界面上follower数量变化的细节也体现了这点。

以上，Frank，大概这样。

前边的那个*是想说键盘手曾经说自己想成为Frank，可惜Frank只有一个，后来自杀的时候戴着Frank的头套，大概是“die as Frank”，是从作品内部对角色的肯定也是对Frank自身的另一面的另一种诠释吧，如果他不是这么talented如果他内心并不单纯不积极如果他不快乐那Frank就也不会存在了啊。

三说SORONPRFBS，乐队名字没法念隐喻他们没法成功，这里用周国平的话说就是在精神领域的追求中，不必说世俗的成功，即便是精神追求本身的成功也不是主要的目标，目标即寓于过程之中，对精神价值的追求本身成了生存方式。

比较喜欢的是生存方式的概念，把追求作为生活方式不就是SORO他们在木屋里录歌时候的精神支柱吗，出不出名究竟又有什么必要。

这样说来好像男配很可恶进来掺和一脚整坏了又走了，但其实他逼得Frank本体示人同时SORO经历这番一定能走上更明白的路至少对自己追求什么一清二楚了。

男配在找出走的Frank的时候意外得知网上的点击率大多数其实是在看他们的笑话（妈蛋根本是编剧在自黑自己的逗比设定吧），他意识到自己对Frank和乐队的破坏有多大（重复了好几遍I ruined everything），感觉挺好笑实际挺悲伤的啊，做一些不能被理解的实验音乐（实际超级好听好么）被当成逗比这简直是艺术的悲哀，知我者谓我心忧，不知者谓我何求。

其实不被人理解是艺术的悲哀也是幸运，要相信啊开拓者总是少的。

片子在对实验音乐的价值进行探讨的同时可能也有着对电影行当的忧虑吧，也许，我瞎说的。

结束的太突兀算了最后来安利！！

首先对于脑残粉（就我吧），头套Frank萌得令人发指，裸脸Frank心酸得让人嗷嗷叫不敢直视对方不给正脸什么的呜呜呜（其实主要因为法鲨的颜////////），Frank身材全程高能，腰身还有好看的胳膊和手////////法鲨讲话唱歌什么的根本把持不住！！！！

【对于路人来说】，全员逗比的同时带着分量十足的内心戏，BGM全部给42个赞，各种小细节的黑色幽默都妙不可言，色调有种大森林水汪汪凉爽自在的感觉，乐队音乐全部现场演唱录制反正我觉得每首都好听QAQ（包括被除了SORO全员都唾弃的女配的兹兹电音好好好好听），哦不过警告全片无女主（。

片尾放了三首鲨鲨唱的歌，之后还会出专辑，天地良心！！！！

就这样

我觉得其实是一个很简单的关于追寻的故事。

对这世界上大多数人来说，我们常常犯的错就是妄图追寻不属于或者不适合自己的东西。

你想要绚烂而璀璨的存在，却没有勇气承认那不属于你，所以你假装爱它，你为了得到成功试图改造它，耗尽了所有的力气才明白，有的东西天生就不属于你，而你只是回到你所在的世界就好了。

随手搜的，先摘过来，有空翻一下。

以下节选自Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie该书，书的作者Jon Ronson是剧本的Co-writer，也即电影中Jon的原型。

更新，大概是不会翻译了，其实单词很简单很好理解，而且和电影里的对话非常像呢，可见改编之忠实。

In 1987 I was 20 and the student union entertainments officer for the Polytechnic of Central London. One day I was sitting in the office when the telephone rang. I picked it up."So Frank's playing tonight and our keyboard player can't make it and so we're going to have to cancel unless you know any keyboard players," said a frantic voice.I cleared my throat. "I play keyboards," I said."Well you're in!" the man shouted."But I don't know any of your songs," I said."Wait a minute," the man said.I heard muffled voices. He came back to the phone. "Can you play C, F and G?" he said.The man on the phone said I should meet them at the soundcheck at 5pm. He added that his name was Mike, and Frank Sidebottom's real name was Chris. Then he hung up.When I got to the bar it was empty except for a few men fiddling with equipment."Hello?" I called.The men turned. I scrutinised their faces. In the three hours since the phone call I'd learned a little about Frank Sidebottom – how he wore a big, fake head and there was much speculation about his real identity. Some thought he might be the alter ego of a celebrity, possibly Midge Ure, the lead singer of Ultravox, who was known to be a big Frank Sidebottom fan. Which of these men might be Frank? If I looked closely would there be some kind of facial clue?Then I became aware of another figure kneeling in the shadows, his back to me. He began to turn. I let out a gasp. Two huge eyes were staring at me, painted onto a great, imposing fake head, lips slightly parted as if mildly surprised. Why was he wearing the head when there was nobody there to see it except for his own band? Did he never take it off?"Hello, Chris," I said. "I'm Jon."Silence."Hello ... Chris?"Nothing."Hello ... Frank?" I tried."HELLO!" he yelled.Another of the men came bounding over to me. "You're Jon," he said. "I'm Mike Doherty. Thank you for standing in at such short notice.""So," I said. "Maybe we could run through the songs? Or ... ?"Frank's face stared at me."Frank?" Mike said."OH YES?""Can you teach Jon the songs?"At this Frank raised his hands to his head and began to prise it off, turning slightly away, like he was shyly undressing. I thought I saw a flash of something under there, some contraption attached to his face."Hello, Jon," said the man underneath. He had a nice, ordinary face. He gave me a sheepish smile, as if to say he was sorry that I had to endure all the weirdness of the past few minutes but it was out of his hands.Before I knew it we were onstage. As we played I watched it all – the band assiduously emulating the tinny pre-programmed sounds of a cheap, children's keyboard, the enraptured audience, and Frank, the eerie cartoon-character frontman, his facial expression immobile, his singing voice a high-pitched nasal twang.After that night – the greatest of my life – a year passed. Life went back to normal. Then Mike phoned and asked if I wanted to be in Frank's band full time. So I quit college and moved to Manchester.And there I was, in the passenger seat of a Transit van flying down the M6 in the middle of the night, squeezed between the door and Frank Sidebottom. Those were my happiest times – when Chris would mysteriously decide to just carry on being Frank. Nothing makes a young man feel more alive and on an adventure than speeding down a motorway at 2am next to a man wearing a big fake head. I'd watch him furtively as the lights made his cartoon face glow yellow and then black and then yellow again.I am writing this 26 years later. The music journalist Mick Middles recently sent me his not-yet-published biography Frank Sidebottom: Out of His Head. His book captures perfectly that "rarest of journeys" when an onlooker got to see the man born Chris Sievey turn into Frank. "The moment the head is placed the change occurs. Not merely a change in attitude or outlook but a journey from one person to the other. I completely believe that Chris was born as two people." Middles likens Chris to transgender people, trapped in the wrong body.I never understood why Chris sometimes kept Frank's head on for hours, even when it was only us in the van. Under the head Chris would wear a swimmer's nose clip. Chris would be Frank for such long periods the clip had deformed him slightly, flattened his nose out of shape. When he'd remove the peg after a long stint I'd see him wince in pain.Frank's character was of a child in a northern town remaining assiduously immature in the face of adulthood. He was a paean to ordinariness. But Chris wasn't ordinary. He was chaotic. Sometimes, on the way back from some gig, I'd become aware that we were taking a detour to some house somewhere with some women we somehow met along the way. There would be partying while I sat outside on the sofa.In the van I'd listen to Chris's stories, trying to understand him. He reminded me of George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable man: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Chris was the unreasonable man, except the world never did adapt to him and he never made any progress. Like when Frank was asked to support the boy band Bros at Wembley. There were 50,000 people in the crowd. This was a huge stage for Frank – his biggest ever, by about 49,500 people. It was his chance to break through to the mainstream. But instead he chose to perform a series of terrible Bros cover versions for five minutes and was bottled off. The show's promoter, Harvey Goldsmith, was glaring at him from the wings. Frank sauntered over to him and said, "I'm thinking of putting on a gig at the Timperley Labour Club. Do you have any tips?"We crisscrossed Leeds and Bury and Sheffield and Liverpool playing the same venues over and over again. Time passed and the audiences grew to 750 and sometimes even 1,000. It was consequently baffling for me to become aware of a growing sense of discontent in the van. Chris had been asking friends to perform cameos between the songs on his records. In this spirit he had asked his brother-in-law's friend Caroline Aherne to voice the part of Frank's neighbour, Mrs Merton. Afterwards, Caroline decided to keep Mrs Merton going. She somehow got her own TV show, The Mrs Merton Show. She won a Bafta. Her followup series, The Royle Family, won about seven. The Royle Family Christmas specials attracted audiences of 12 million. And meanwhile we were crisscrossing Manchester and Bury and Leeds and Sheffield and Liverpool in our Transit van.The band's guitarist Patrick Gallagher told Middles: "It wasn't Caroline's fault. Chris was totally out of control. Whereas, say, Caroline Aherne had a single vision and could just pursue that, Chris might have a fantastic idea, and then, just as the point where it might actually get somewhere, he would spin off onto something completely different. That's OK for a while but it tended to piss people off because they never knew where they stood."Suddenly everyone around us was becoming famous. My next-door neighbour Mani had a band. They became The Stone Roses. Our driver, Chris Evans, left us to try and make it in radio. By 2000 he was earning £35m in a year, making him Britain's highest-paid entertainer.There is always a moment failure begins. A single decision that starts everything lumbering down the wrong path, speeding up, careering wildly, before lurching to a terrible stop in a place where nobody is interested in hearing your songs any more.With Frank I can pinpoint that moment exactly."Chris wants to have a rehearsal," Mike told me one day."Why would Chris want to rehearse?" I said."To take things up a level," Mike said.Chris's house was in a normal, nice, modern cul-de-sac. His children were playing outside. His wife, Paula, answered the door and told me to go to the spare bedroom. I walked up, passing the bathroom and glanced in. Staring back at me from the sink was Frank's head."In here, Jon," I heard Chris shout.I opened the bedroom door. And stopped. A man was standing there, maroon shirt tucked smartly into neat black jeans. As I walked in he started playing a tight soul-funk riff with seeming nonchalance, but I understood it to be an act of aggression."Who ... are you?" I said."I'm Richard," he said. "From the Desert Wolves."I'd like to say that during the years since Richard the bass player took an instant dislike to me – a dislike that only intensified during the months that followed before the band imploded, and climaxed in him yelling that he'd like to break my "keyboard-playing fingers" – he went on to have a disappointing life. But he didn't. He became one of the world's most successful tour managers, looking after Woody Allen and the Spice Girls. He currently manages the Pixies.Richard was not the only proper musician Chris brought in. A skilful guitarist and a saxophone player turned up in the spare bedroom too. We began to sound like an excellent 1980s wedding band.Chris told me to book us the biggest tour we'd ever undertaken. He choreographed it so I would begin the show. I'd walk on stage, alone, into a spotlight, and play a powerful C with my left forefinger. The synth brass tone – the most stirring of all the Casio tones.We hired a people-carrier instead of a Transit van and set off to our first venue. The mood was pumped. The old band members had a certain avant-garde loucheness. But this new band: I felt like I was in a college sports team. We soundchecked. The place was packed. And then I walked out into the spotlight. And in the space of that first song – our classic Born in Timperley (to the tune of Springsteen's Born in the USA) – the audience veered from fevered anticipation into hoping we were playing a weird joke on them into realising with regret that we were not. The NME savaged us. By the end of the tour we were playing to almost-empty houses.Chris returned to Manchester to a court summons. He owed £30,000 in back taxes. On the day of his court appearance the judge told him it was a very serious matter and had he considered a payment plan?"Would a pound a week suffice, m'lud?" he asked."No it would not!" the judge shouted.Chris never actually said to me: "You're fired." But I began to notice in the listings magazines that he was doing solo shows – just him and a keyboard. They were in the same venues we used to play, then in smaller venues, and then eventually there were no shows at all.I moved back to London.Ten years later I was in the park with my son when the phone rang."HELLO!" said Frank Sidebottom."It's been so long. How are you?" I said."Oh I'm very well actually, Mr Ronson," Frank said."Frank," I said. "Will you put Chris on?"Chris filled me in on the past 10 years. Now divorced from Paula, he was an animator on the children's claymation series Pingu. He loved the work but missed Frank and wanted to bring him back from retirement. He was wondering if I'd write something about my time in the band to help him with the comeback. My story was published in the Guardian. My friend, the screenwriter Peter Straughan, asked me if I thought the story could be adapted into a film.Not long after that, Frank was playing at a pub near my flat. I found Chris in a dressing room at the back, Frank's head in a bin bag at his feet."How did you lose so much weight?" I asked."I don't know," he said, looking pleased."Well, whatever you're doing," I said, "you look great."We walked across Kentish Town Road so Chris could buy some cigarettes. He'd already given us his approval on the film and I told him the latest news. FilmFour wanted to fund its development. But – and Chris and I shuffled awkwardly around the question – what would the film actually be about? Specifically, Chris wondered, would Chris be in it? Chris had always said we could do what we wanted with the story. But he was worried that however the film might depict Chris, any reality would surely damage Frank.I had similar concerns. Chris portrayed himself as untroubled. While a total dearth of anxiety was a fantastically enviable character trait in real life, how could we write a film about a man who just didn't care when everything went wrong and in fact found disaster funny? And if Chris was secretly more obsessive about Frank than he let on, how would he feel if the film reflected that? But there was a solution. What if we fictionalised the whole thing? It could be a fable instead of a biopic – a tribute to people like Frank who were just too fantastically strange to make it in the mainstream.I set off for America to research other great musicians who'd ended up on the margins – Daniel Johnston, Captain Beefheart, the Shaggs. A week after I returned, I saw Frank Sidebottom's name trending on Twitter. I clicked on the link and it said "Frank Sidebottom dead". I wondered why Chris had decided to kill off Frank. So I clicked another link:Stars lead tributes as Frank Sidebottom comic dies at 54Chris Sievey, famous as his alter ego Frank Sidebottom, was found collapsed at his home in Hale early yesterday. It is understood that his girlfriend called an ambulance and he was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital, where his death was confirmed.Manchester Evening News, 22 June 2010 When I'd told Chris at our last meeting how thin he looked – he didn't know it then, but it had been throat cancer.Frank Sidebottom comic faces pauper's funeralThe comic genius behind Mancunian legend Frank Sidebottom is facing a pauper's funeral after dying virtually penniless. Chris Sievey had no assets and little money in the bank, his family have revealed.Manchester Evening News, 23 June 2010A pauper's funeral? What did that involve? A journey back in time 200 years? I sent out a tweet. Within an hour 554 people had donated £6,950.03. By the end of the day it was 1,632 donors raising a total of £21,631.55. The donations never stopped. We had to stop them.A Timperley village councillor, Neil Taylor, started his own fund-raising campaign for a memorial statue – Frank cast in bronze. He sent me photographs of its journey from the foundry in the Czech Republic to its final resting place outside Johnson's the dry cleaners in Timperley. In the photographs, Frank looked like he'd been kidnapped but was fine with it.And now our Frank film – directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Domhnall Gleeson, is going to be premiered at the Sundance film festival. As I prepare to go to it, I remember something Chris once said to me. It was late one night, and we were in the van, reminiscing about a show we'd played a few weeks earlier at JB's nightclub in Dudley. It was very poorly attended. There can't have been more than 15 people in the audience. One of them produced a ball, the audience split into teams and, ignoring us, played a game. In the van, Chris smiled wistfully."That Dudley gig," he said."Ah ha?" I said."Best show we ever played," he said.

你我始终会选择向左走向右走两条无法相交的平行线！

很多人都以为自己能成为才华横溢的Frank，却始终都是普普通通Jon；也有不少人想被社会接受如Jon一样受欢迎，但还是人们眼中怪胎Frank！

你不会成为我，我不能接受你！

我们之间的鸿沟有如银河系那么宽广！

我们真的是完完全全两个世界的人！

既然相处过知道答案了：我们为此还弄得伤痕累累满目苍夷！

何苦呢？

那就当我们从未相遇吧！

只需在远处静静的羡慕你就可以了Jon过分：每个人都有自己的圈子，无需强行介入！

你有的自由，我有的放肆你想红，没问题，但请不要将无关人士牵扯进来！

不要说房租的事情，他自己是自愿的，他已经不断将乐队的事情PO上网了，大家开始将乐队当做动物园一样围观！

他已经知道这帮怪咖绝对会引起Frank可怜：我活在自己头套下自有自己的小天地，没有影响到别人，你何须管我头套下的真面目呢？

我是笑还是哭，又与你何干？？？

我只是想让更多的人喜欢我的音乐，欣赏我的作品，一定要我拉到众人的面前吗？

我已经尽力做了，但是我还是做不到啊！

你是真的看不出我是多么的害怕还是假装看不到呢？

Clara舐犊情深：她知道Jon不属于他们的世界：俗人一个！

Jon的那些小把戏骗骗涉世未深的Frank就可以，但想忽悠她就绝对不可能了！

她对待Frank如母如姐如朋友，无论经历什么她都像是母鸡一样护着Frank，不想让尘世污染了他！

（想不到Jon在Clara面前就是man了一下，竟然会受到这种待遇！

哈哈哈哈！

Clara威猛啊！！！

）PS：1.谁说是治愈系的？？？

摆明就是致郁系！！！

2.前面笑得有多欢，后面哭得就多惨！

3.还是钱老说得对：围在城里的人想逃出来，城外的人想冲进去，对婚姻也罢，职业也罢，人生的愿望大都如此！

4.当Frank以真面目展现在世人面前时，看到他哆哆嗦嗦的样子很想冲上给他一个大大的拥抱！

我要告诉你：你绝对不是怪物！！！

喧鬧、怪誕、可愛、歡樂。

光看Frank的預告絕對會誤以為這是一部描寫叛逆創作者的歡鬧喜劇，但面具、頭套、奇裝異服卻是一首唱給自己聽的孤獨情歌。

拙作插圖: http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/mw1024/725f21d5gw1eh4t176gacj20rs0l7jyv.jpgFrank借用與Bob Dylan傳記電影"I'm Not There"類似的致敬手法，描述一個與Frank Sidebottom這個虛構喜劇人物類似的歌手與他的怪咖樂團，包括不露真面目的主唱、暴力的鍵盤手、心事重重的混音師。

透過一個渴望成名卻沒什麼音樂天份的普通年輕人，將這個怪異小樂團拉到社會大眾面前。

前半段電影保持著歡樂驚奇的趣味，多虧於Michael Fassbender的表演，讓這個單看有點creepy的大頭人充滿不可思議的可愛魅力。

看他們與世隔絕、如同修行般自在的探索創作音樂的樂趣，看身為普通人的主角努力的想要融入這個團隊，觀眾會忍不住想為他的笨拙加油。

但當隱藏在大頭面具中的真相暴露後，觀眾又會為主角的一意孤行感到焦躁。

作為一個功能型的主角，Domhnall Gleeson的角色後半段的轉折被寫得略缺乏層次，除了惹人厭以外沒能給這部片帶來什麼作為，算是本片主要的一個缺點。

好在電影的整體感是流暢的。

中段混音師對Frank的才華羨慕忌妒憾恨的情緒，與後半段主角與社會大眾對Frank的誤解達到了很好的連結，讓喜劇轉悲劇的過程不至於突兀。

描寫cult角色不容於社會的故事，Frank並非第一部，手法算不上特別。

但尾聲處呈現出的浪漫憂傷卻讓人印象深刻。

我想這很大部份必須歸功於演員。

Michael Fassbender很精準的掌握了演員在呈現喜劇與悲劇間相異的表演元素。

前半段他把握到喜劇人物常具有的笨拙單純，同時也表現出演員本身俱備的領導魅力。

後半段則切換到更為寫實的悲劇肢體語言，光是茫然無措的站著就能讓人鼻酸。

以小眾獨立片的完成度而言Frank可說是超越期待的交出亮眼的成績。

它有趣、幽默、反英雄，很好的提供觀眾一次從喜悅、興奮到感傷、反思的旅程，但又不至於過度沉重。

如同劇中他們表演的那些歌曲一般悅耳輕巧。