ZAPPA (No rating)
NO stone is left unturned in this exhaustive and at times exhausting documentary about composer and experimental rock musician Frank Zappa.
Film-maker and Bill & Ted actor Alex Winter makes use of seldom-seen footage from Zappa’s own archive to chart the life of the Mothers Of Invention frontman.
Zappa emerges as a genuine one-off, a self-taught perfectionist who never had any intention of selling out.
The film begins where Zappa’s story ended, with his final concert in Prague in 1991, two years after the communist regime fell and two years before his death from prostate cancer at 52.
To many Czechs, Zappa’s unclassifiable music was the sound of freedom. If that’s your take too, you should savour every second of Winter’s labour of love.
■ Zappa is streaming now on Altitude Film