Synopsis
With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.
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Cast
- Frank ZappaSelf (archive footage)
- Mike KeneallySelf - Played with Zappa 1987-1988
- Pamela Des BarresSelf - Author, Former Member of the GTOs
- Lonnie LardnerSelf - Newscaster for Action News (archive footage)
- Patrice ZappaSelf - Frank Zappa's Sister (archive footage)
- Rose ZappaSelf - Frank Zappa's Mother (archive footage)
- Francis ZappaSelf - Frank Zappa's Father (archive footage)
- Edgard VarèseSelf (archive footage)
- Don Van VlietSelf (archive footage) (as Captain Beefheart)
- The Mothers of InventionThemselves (archive footage)
Recommendations
- 88
Movie Nation
Alex Winter’s Zappa is perhaps the most thorough Zappa screen biography to come along, and that’s acknowledging how hopeless the job of making The Compleat Zappa bio-doc is. - 88
Chicago Tribune
In Zappa, this legendary artist’s uncompromising nature is bracing, bold and utterly refreshing. - 88
RogerEbert.com
I found the film to be an engrossing look at Zappa and his legacy that nevertheless avoids the mere hagiography that films of this sort run the risk of embracing when not handled properly. - 80
Variety
It’s a multimedia immersion, filled with rare footage of Zappa from his teenage years on and assembled with the loving dexterity we’ve come to expect from Alex Winter as a filmmaker. - 75
Slant Magazine
The documentary is determined not to be a typical rock-god story with predictable rise-and-fall arcs. - 75
Washington Post
Zappa gives its subject his well-earned due within the rock firmament. But even more valuable, Winter gives Zappa pride of place among the most important composers of the 20th century, sharing some extraordinary performances of his little-known classical work. - 75
Boston Globe
Zappa also gently touches on Frank’s contempt for the general run of humanity, not just Tipper Gore and other members of the Parents Music Resource Center. He spoke witheringly of his appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” where the cast made fun of his lifelong no-drugs stance. - 70
Wall Street Journal
It’s a rare documentary portrait that doesn’t oversell its subject.
