REWIND REVIEW: Zappa (2020)

(MA15+) ★★★★

Director: Alex Winter.

Stills of Zappa without a cigarette nearby not available.

As I've written before, a good music doco not only has to tell the story of a musician in a way that can engage both the casual fan and the hardcore enthusiast, but it also needs to capture and reflect the artist's essence in some way.

Whether it be the joie de vivre of the Beastie Boys in a theatre telling tales and cracking wise, or the mind-numbing grind that was Radiohead’s OK Computer tour, or Amy Winehouse struggling in the face of endless papparazzi snaps, the best docos allow the artist's spirit and the reality of their situations to seep into the film.

In Zappa, it’s the zigging and zagging of the sound and vision as it goes that is the most Zappa-like thing about it. Concert footage is intertwined with found footage edited by Frank Zappa himself, stop-motion sits between interviews, and the many musical and non-musical hats of Zappa get an airing.

Constantly attention-grabbing, the doco details as much of Frank Zappa’s life as it can fit into two hours.The film moves episodically through all the Wikipedia moments - childhood, early bands, the Mothers, and on to the PMRC censorship war, Czechoslovakia and his cancer battle - with us much detail as it can muster, illuminated by Frank’s archival comments and a handful of ex-band mates, plus his late wife Gail. As such, it’s a collection of snapshots, with each one bolstered by personal recollections that help to paint a reasonably complete picture.

Given his astonishing work rate, remarkable output, and his endlessly chameleonic artistry, the film has a lot of bases to touch on, but it still finds time to provide an insight into who he was. It doesn’t pull back from the tough stuff - he slept around, hardly saw his kids, and was difficult to work with due to his exacting standards. On that front the film is admirable. 

Surprisingly concise but still well rounded, Zappa is the best doco of this under-appreciated talent that we’re likely to get. Hardcore fans may have hoped for more, but it does a great job of showcasing one of music's most daring, driven, and creative characters.