The documentary film Frank Meyer lures the viewer into the trap of their own prejudices and manages to move them. Everything unnecessary has been removed.
From the surface you can’t always tell what lies beneath.
The old truth reminded me of a German documentary Frank Meyer while watching, and that applies to both the work and the subject of the film to Frank Meyer.
Frank Meyer is a massively muscular middle-aged man whose life and identity is based on bodybuilding. He considers his greatest achievement to be third place in regional bodybuilding competitions decades ago.
Meyer drives a dodgy car and goes to a strip club. The morning starts with a long drink of an egg-banana smoothie. He owns a 150-square-meter weight room.
But Frank Meyer is not a story about a self-confident pig or toxic masculinity, but about the slow collapse of the human body and mind.
It shines as a documentary and manages to move its viewers.
Directors Leonhard Hofmann and Riccardo Dejan Jurkovic followed Frank Meyer with his video camera for 11 years. That’s a huge amount of time, especially when the target is an ordinary unknown guy and not a celebrity of any kind.
The job was worth it. An arc was born, the most painful points of which are best left unmentioned in order to preserve the viewing experience. It’s not about social porn. Meyer enjoys living in front of the camera and introduces the viewer to his aunt, brother and his muscles.
The training continues, even though there is already a heart attack caused by the “pills”.
There is undeniably cinematic power in over-formed body parts. They force you to investigate and wonder. Without his muscles, Meyer would not have made it to the main part of the film. With their help, the viewer is lured into the trap of their own prejudices.
At the beginning Meyer explains why he once pushed himself to become a giant. In his childhood home, his father had often beaten him, his brother and his mother, and so the boy Frank wanted to grow up to be like the Man of Steel or Batman.
That’s some interesting points of contact with perhaps the world’s most famous bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzeneggeriin. He tells Netflix Arnold-documentary, how the father beat the brother with a belt, and when he saw the character of Hercules in a movie poster as a teenager, the hero of the myths ended up as a role model.
Meyer’s mother is also seen in the documentary, in a nursing home. Meyer proudly shows the camera an old photo of his mother hanging on the wall of the room and mentions that she won a beauty contest sometime long ago.
Meyer is never seen at work during the day. He has inherited a big pet store from his father, so he lives alone in a big apartment and apparently renews his racing games with the help of his capital.
Bodar’s loneliness is proven by pictures in which Meyer whips crumbs for ducks and geese only in the same park. The longing to be close to another living thing is so strong that he hides some kind of muskrat on the beach and offers the rodent a carrot from his own mouth.
All explanations has leaked out in vain.
The more detailed opening of Meyer’s medical report has also been considered as such. The picture of the disease is transmitted from Meyer’s skin, when a nasty-looking lump appears on the arm, which swells year by year.
It’s amazing that after more than 10 years of collecting materials, the creators have turned to such minimalistic solutions. The duration of the film is only about 80 minutes, but that’s enough.
Documentary film Frank Meyer at the Docpoint festival 2.–4.2. Performance information: docpointfestival.fi