Critic’s Pick: ‘Frank’ gives you something to wrap your head around

Every so often it’s time for something completely different, and if you’re feeling that way right now, it’s the time for “Frank.” Odd, offbeat, somehow endearing, this bleakly comic film has its own kind of charm as well as some pointed, poignant things to say about the mysterious nature of creativity, where it comes from and where it might go. Directed by Ireland’s Lenny Abrahamson, it stars the protean Michael Fassbender as the charismatic, enigmatic lead singer of an avant-garde rock band, the ultimate unfathomable creative genius whose thoughts and emotions are hard to read because he’s never seen without a huge fiberglass head with a cartoonish face painted on it. Really. In addition to being surprisingly amusing, this film sees how serious these strange musicians are about their art and that there is something quite magical about Frank and his gifts. Playing at the ArcLight in Hollywood, the Landmark in West Los Angeles and the Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.