Frankie signs up to an online re-animation course to bring his best friend Benny back from the dead. But Benny 2.0 isn’t quite what Frankie expected.

Director’s Vision for ‘Frankie and Benny’

Frankie and Benny’s started off as a full on drama about loss, grief and drunk driving. In fact, the dark side of alcohol consumption was in the foreground. But then Covid just kept dragging on and we were a bit sick of saddness. And instead wanted to make a film about friendship.

It is still very much about grief and a little bit about drunk driving, there are just a lot more slapstick montages wrapped around it.

The goal was to make a frankenstein of a movie. Part buddy comedy, part gross out slapstick, part drama, and a touch of horror homage. We also have a variety of aspect ratios and shooting formats. And even use different colour schemes within the same frame (Warmer and more saturated around our living Frankie, and colder around our dead-ish Benny). It might not always read, but all that oddness from 4:3 to 9:16 to black and white etc had a thought behind it.

The thought is that grief is messy. And it comes in all shapes and forms. And it makes you laugh one moment and cry another. And it makes you angry. With the world and everyone in it. But mostly with yourself. And if the only way you can forgive yourself is to manufacture a monster version of your friend and learn that his passing isn’t your fault, then duderoos: Go for it.