Review of Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) by Mathew W — 03 Aug 2016

Unlike a more 'traditional' music documentary style where the film-maker interviews distant friends and family who often barely knew them (see every Kurt Cobain, Elliot Smith, Nick Drake documentary ever made), this film contains no direct narrative or structure other than through the chronological layout of the archival footage of Zappa being interviewed by various broadcast journalists throughout his career.

This style works well as the viewer feels as if they're watching the history of a man's life through a journalistic lens, successfully illuminating the culture and society that shaped Zappa as an artist at that time.

The threat of government led censorship was a constant risk for musicians of his era and Zappa was one of the stronger opposing voices putting capitalism, the excess of power and American values as the true heart of discussion.

His dry-witted responses to broadcasters depthless questions had the entire cinema chuckling and the story on the crass (even for todays standards) 'Bobby Brown' - A satirical view of jock culture which features the line "got a cute cheerleader gonna help me with my paper, I'll make her do all the work and maybe later I'll rape her" becoming a slow-dance hit in Norwegian school socials due to a severe language barrier had the audience heaving with laughter.

The idea of this feature is to place emphasis on Zappa as a pop-culture personality and his portrayal in the media during his time in the lime-light. For a Zappa connoisseur, this film doesn't scratch the surface of a career spanning over 60 albums and 2 feature-length films however it's still heartily enjoyable - even to those unfamiliar of his music.