Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words

Frank Zappa's fans will certainly enjoy Thorsten Schütte's documentary, which will also likely appeal to a wider audience. The film consists almost entirely of excerpts from interviews that the singer-songwriter gave during his career, accompanied by archival footage. Eat That Question is neither a full nor conventional biography—little is said of Zappa's life before he appeared as a clean-cut young man on The Steve Allen Show in the early 1960s to conduct a composition for two bicycles and an instrumental ensemble. That clip is quickly succeeded by Zappa's rather different look as the front-man of the Mothers of Invention, which takes the narrative into his running battle with the music industry and his affinity for writing pungently satirical lyrics to remarkably eclectic music. Zappa made extensive use of innovative recording processes while also composing serious music that later he would hire orchestras to perform. He also attacked every form of censorship, moving into movies in 1971 with the cult film 200 Motels, and later pioneering video-to-film techniques. Schütte paints a portrait of a man who defied easy pigeonholing: although criticized as a bad influence, Zappa emphasized his opposition to drug use, and while dismissed as a leftie, he lambasted liberals as well as conservatives. Being based almost exclusively on Zappa's own words, the profile here is selective, but it does provide fascinating insight into a complex man and complicated artist. Recommended. (F. Swietek)