Review of Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) by Mark P — 02 Jul 2016

My mental model of this was that it would be a melange of appearances on talk shows, many of which I've seen...perhaps I'm cynical about docs these days, but aren't we all familiar with the aging-rock-doc genre by now? To my intense shock and awe, we were exposed to some of the best performance footage I have ever seen of any artist -- much of it in Europe.

One of the keys to this projects success is that it is a European team working with -- and this is the other key to the project's success -- the estate, with Gail and Ahmet listed as EPs. In addition to throwing us hardcore fans mouth-watering bones like Ian Underwood at the piano with Zappa singing the lyrics, or a bare-shouldered Ruth Underwood playing an insane marimba solo, or way more Jimmy Carl Black and Bunk Gardner that you ever dreamed of.

...there is this: Zappa was a hard-working, high-school dropout, who was an entrepreneur and businessman of the first order facing off against an uncomprehending world of bean-counting record company executives, frightened media personalities, and concert venue management that had no fucking clue what he was about.

This film's ultimate contribution (among so many) is showing him as the composer he wanted to be, from the first moment he "drew" music, to the conclusion, where he presents the thesis that his entire prodigious oeuvre is "one continuous piece of music.

" I suspect this is coming to Netflix, and it appears that ironically, the distributors in charge of getting this on screens is fucking it up, but do make the effort to see it in a proper theater with good sound.

Kudos all around, and we close with Zappa: "Music is the best.".