Frank (Lenny Abrahamson, 2014)

For fans of quirky, indie, self-aware cinema, look no further than Frank. Michael Fassbender plays the titular character, donning an intentionally absurd American accent and wears—yes—a paper mache mask the entire movie. The mask resembles Hey Arnold. The off-beat humor might rub some people the wrong way, but for fans of Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, or for those just looking for something off the beaten path, there’s treasures to be enjoyed. The plot: Domhnall Gleeson, who you either saw earlier this year in Ex Machina or you will in December in Star Wars, is a hungry not amazing musician (in the same sense Eli Cash in Royal Tenenbaums is especially not a genius), who teams up with Frank and his bizzaro group of musicians. Egos get in the way, and hints of betrayal surface. Frank tilts from a strange music movie comedy into a deep study on narcissism and loneliness, and it gets unusually affecting in the final minutes as a result. When people say a movie’s a gem, this is the kind they mean.