It’s never an easy feat to examine cultural phenomenons when the people telling the story are close to the subject, but Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story makes a valiant if flawed effort. Steve Sullivan’s exploration of Chris Sievey, a multi-hyphenate musician turned experimental video maker, maverick comedian and animator feels as disjointed as the comedy of his most well known creation, Frank Sidebottom. Frank Sidebottom, portrayed by Sievey, of course, bears a striking resemblance to the Frank portrayed by Michael Fassbender in Lenny Abrahamson’s dark comedy, Frank–even if the film is only referenced in passing by Sullivan.
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story is more or less concerned with the man behind the mask, who never had the dramatic reveal he’d hoped for in his career. The paper mâché, Frank, morphed into the type of Pee-wee Herman character that simultaneously entertains adults at music festivals and the Saturday morning cartoon crowd. Adopting a fuzzy approach to dates and times, Sullivan’s documentary is more or less a montage of Sievey’s life as a struggling musician, albeit one who started trolling music labels with his own form of rejection letter before finding fluke national success with his band, The Freeshies. An eccentric post-Beatles pop band, The Freeshies found a surprise hit with their joke single, “I’m In Love with the Girl on a Central Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk,” even as their prank led to them being blocked from radio play by Richard Branson’s empire.
Living a modest life with his wife, Paula, and his kids in the suburbs of Manchester, Sievey remained a bit of a mystery by both design and circumstance. The film glosses over a plenty of interesting passages in his life including a too short segment about the creation of a service that would send a personalized tape. But while other films about pioneering artists provide some grounding either through interviews with scholars, journalists, or famous artists that were directly influenced by the subject, Being Frank fully embraces an outsider’s perspective. Like Sievey’s life, the aesthetic employed by Sullivan seems to be a conscious choice, even as it’s somewhat questionable for a definitive biopic given the wealth of archival of video footage, audio material, photographs, and journals available about Sievey.
Finding firmer footing in its third act, Being Frank explores his successes ranging from poorly singing Beatles songs at music festivals headlined by the likes of Nirvana to Sievey’s day job working on animated shows like Bob The Builder. Still, the film never knows quite what to make of Frank or Sievey. Is he a goof that spawned an acclaimed solo exhibition, a cynic who always had a get rich scheme, or just a suburban dad that dreamed of something bigger? It’s hard not to wish that the film was able to more satisfying answer that question. Instead, it leaves too many unanswered threads, attempting to at once demystify the creator and preserve the mystery around the creations that dominated his public persona.
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story premiered at SXSW.