Film Reviews by AF

A fairly sparse film, but all the better for it. No pumping music but some sections are very tense. Great acting and believable characters.

This is not a thriller, it's a drama. Surprisingly engaging despite the lack of action. The contrast between the two worlds makes you think and there is an underlying, but never explained, issue for the main character. Well acted.

Having seen the film 'Frank', which uses the Frank Sidebottom character solely as a starting point, I was interested to see this biopic. I had low expectations. The film tells the Chris Sievey story, and benefits from the fact that he videoed his exploits from his early 20's and left a massive archive of drawings and notes. Chris formed several bands including the Freshies which although competent, were doomed by various external forces to failure, including a strike at the BBC which lost them a Top of the Pops performance. He then invented Frank Sidebottom, which took over as an alter-ego. The rest is history...

This excellent documentary was partly funded by a Kickstarter campaign. It's very well put together, and includes interviews will lots of odd balls who add to the colour of the whole experience. Whether you find Frank Sidebottom funny or not is irrelevant; it's the sheer intensity of effort that Chris Sievey went about his life that sticks with you. A really enjoyable experience.

PS I only watched one 'extra'; Frank Sidebottom on How to keep pets, which really was hilarious.

Still packs punch.

The plot and acting get over some fairing basic action scenes.

The best scenes involve Jack Lemmon. Corporate greed and politics are slightly overdone, but the human aspects ring true.

The story owes a lot to Graham Greene's 'Our man in Havana' . The earlier film of that name is not perfect but certainly bears up well for the period. This later film looks like a throwback with hurried scenes, plot jumps and some frankly ham acting. I really don't know what they were thinking about. If I was being generous I would assume it's been very heavily edited...