MovieChat Forums > Frank (2014) Discussion > My take on this movie, Jon's story

My take on this movie, Jon's story

posted 10 years ago by andibeheldapalehorse
13 replies | jump to latest

At the end of this movie it made me think of how misplaced Jon was. The whole movie kind of is about Jon's voyage, he wanted to be a musician so bad that he could not see that this group he ended up in was really not about sharing music with an audience but rather a way for this odd group to cope with their lives, by sticking together. Like a kind of group therapy. It indeed was a mental hospital,and he had no place in it. Jon realised this in the end, and he managed to repair the damage he had done, and I think he learned that creativity does not need a goal, and it needs no fame.
Also, I think he learned that you don't need to have bad experiences (e.g. a bad childhood) to write music from your heart, you just need to live and not try to be something you are not.
And about the responsibility of influence. It's important in life to listen, and to feel, what is what, otherwise someone end up getting hurt.

[–] Emigs42 10 years ago

A+

[–] Lacerda-1 10 years ago

Nice

[–] madameduran 10 years ago

Agreed.

[–] texagander 10 years ago

I agree. I also think there was commentary on how people(and Jon) are more concerned with how they appear than what they truly are.

Jon's first tweet was something about how he'd be writing music all day, and now it's time to eat. But really, he hadn't written anything beyong "lady in a red coat.." Considering twitter and facebook, for most people, is a place to craft your image into the person you wish you were, I found this aspect of the movie very topical.

At the end of sxsw he is so concerned with appearing as the rock star, he basically decimated and co-opted the band. He acted like the frontman when he can't even pronounce their weird band name. Oh and he was still playing chords while Frank was clearly having a breakdown. So at that point he didn't give a crap about anyone or anything, but his own personal gain.

Because his tweets were disengenious and self-serving the "fans" were not interested in the music, just the spectacle of a freakshow.

[–] patrick_bateman_90029 10 years ago

Not to mention what an 'ingrate" he becomes when they're in isolation practicing.

When I saw "Frank" the first time, I felt for Jon because there are countless Jons all over the world who just want to do what they love all the time. The second time I saw it, it became apparent what a little sycophant he is, however unintentionally.

When he first starts out with The Soronprfbs, you feel his earnest opinion of the band and Frank and his genuine want to create groundbreaking music with them, all the while never realizing his talent is "amateur" at best compared to Frank. Once it's apparent to him that Frank and, to an extent, Don are the only people in the whole band who like him, everything Jon does basically becomes a way to buy his way into the creative pool (i.e. depleting his nest egg to keep the cabin for a longer period of time). Instead of being a collaborator the way everyone else is, Jon becomes "entitled" by his monetary position and Tweets like a spoiled child when the band won't use any of his compositions. Anna even points it out before the performance that his "influence" is poisoning the band.

And then once he's alienated everyone once they get to SxSW, instead of looking out for Frank, as texagander pointed out, he just jumps on stage and plays the opening notes of his music. Everything now has to be about him with everyone else playing second fiddle. He turned what was meant to be a meeting place for the world's "outsiders" to craft their passion turned into a sideshow because of no true understanding apart from social ego.

[–] mechajutaro 10 years ago

Also, I think he learned that you don't need to have bad experiences (e.g. a bad childhood) to write music from your heart, you just need to live and not try to be something you are not.

I'm continually perplexed and still mildly annoyed by this most venerated of sacred cows: The tortured genius. Name one person, first-rate craftsman or otherwise, who can boast an unambiguously "good" or "bad"-whatever such label mean-childhood. Ex. Nabokov was among the last children of Russian aristocracy, throughout toddlerhood and into early adolescence carted to some of that waning empire's finest academies in the family Rolls Royce. Simultaneously he was to fall prey to a relative's pedophilia(reference Uncle Ruka, if you doubt)and between the victory of Lenin and an assassin's bullet in Berlin, bear the loss of most of his family well before the age of 30.

[–] got_my_head_in_the_clouds 10 years ago

nice. although i was sort of mad at jon for not understanding frank and the band sooner lol i was sort of like clara, thinking he was a stupid kid who knew nothing :)

[–] minhal92 10 years ago

Totally agree with you there OP.
I realized much earlier on that Jon was never part of the group. He tried so hard to be part of the group of misfits, and he genuinely wanted to be part of them.
He simply didn't have it.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 10 years ago

Yes the film is (mostly) Jon's journey but the other characters go on journeys too; some are more significant journeys but even Don takes one, which leads to suicide. One important feature of Jon is that he represents the ordinariness that we call sanity and via him and his ordinary way of responding, i.e. wanting to build a name and seek fame, the band disintegrates as they are confronted by what Jon represents. But then they reform and this reformation brings some healing. Jon is the catalyst for them just as they catalyse something within him too.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.

[–] KidDBrock 10 years ago

I started this movie late and stopped it right before he makes Frank get on stage. I went to bed being kind of irritated with the film and thinking it was kind of dumb. It really redeemed itself in the last act and your summary is right on. If that lesson didn't get learned, and if he doesn't leave the original band alone at the end it would have been a bad movie about an *beep* kid.