Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story

2018

1h 40m

Documentary

Music

List

96%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

95%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

The life of Manchester comedian Frank Sidebottom.

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Prime Video

Rent Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story on Prime Video, or buy it on Prime Video.

Critics Consensus

A behind-the-scenes portrait as warm and bittersweet as its subject's art, Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story should satisfy newcomers as well as longtime fans.

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Alex Godfrey

Time Out

Sievey was hugely dysfunctional, but his mania produced utterly unique, anarchic work - one couldn't have existed without the other. This is a meticulously crafted tribute...

Rated: 4/5

Apr 18, 2019

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

Really affectionate and thorough.

Apr 2, 2019

Full Review

Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

This affectionate, frequently amusing documentary portrait explores the complex, symbiotic relationship between the late Sievey and the creation that threatened to swallow his whole identity.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

Dan Stubbs

NME (New Musical Express)

With unparalleled access to an archive of material found rotting in the late Sievey's brother's cellar, we see early home videos, Freshies performances, Frank's tours of his beloved hometown...

Rated: 5/5

Jun 17, 2021

Full Review

Tom Beasley

Flickering Myth

It's an education for those who missed the wave of love for Frank Sidebottom, and a warm tribute for those who were part of the phenomenon.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 16, 2020

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Viewers entirely new to the cult of Sidebottom may come away enchanted, but they could just as easily emerge disinterested.

Rated: 7/10

May 29, 2019

Full Review

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* 80's D

Loved this, what an entertaining star

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/03/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Many of you may well have been to our very own WFC screening of this last year, and either way, this is well worth your time. Documenting the Manchester based musician Chris Sievey's rise to fame as papier-mache headed alter ego Frank Sidebottom, Steve Sullivan's film is full of heart, interesting, very funny, and heartbreaking all in one. The documentary is helped with some effective archive footage, as well as some illuminating interviews with family and friends.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Honest and heartwarming documentary about a folklore hero of childhood television and independent music, Being Frank is the story people need to discover to learn something about the time the little man knew how to get big in the world.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

nefasto r

"Frank" is one of the best movie I saw in the last years, and that was the main reason that brought me to watch "Being Frank", the story that inspired it. Turns out there are many more reasons for loving this documentary: it's an honest journey into a crazy anarchic mind, a real entertainer. This tribute probably only scratch the surface of his mind and his dark places, but I also think that even Chris Sievey himself couldn't have done much better on that regard.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great movie The cast was superb The plot was fun.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

06/12/19

Full Review

Audience Member

What a fantastic film! While I thought I knew a lot about the life of Frank Sidebottom, and some of the life of the man behind him, this film really showed me what was going on behind the scenes. It was a very heartfelt, touching well filmed documentary, that was frequently funny but always emotionally powerful. We all loved watching it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

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Steve Sullivan

Director

Johnny Vegas

Actor

Ross Noble

Actor

John Cooper-Clarke

Actor

Mark Radcliffe

Actor

John Thomson

Actor

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Synopsis

The life of Manchester comedian Frank Sidebottom.

Director: Steve Sullivan
Producer: Thomas R. Atherton, Adam Partridge, Alex Usborne
Genre: Documentary, Music
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 8, 2019
Runtime: 1h 40m

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