Reviews & Ratings for
Zappa More at IMDbPro »

22 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
very positive comments, 12 September 2004

Author: m thingmaker from Portland, OR, USA

I recently viewed Zappa after watching Twist and Shout, they came packaged together on DVD. Both films are absolutely wonderful, great performances, visuals, stories. The three lead actors in Zappa are incredible, but it is the work of Morton Huff as Mulle that really packs an emotional wallop. I am a huge fan of coming of age films, and Scandinavia really turns out some gems. There's something in that snowy socially responsible region that American films can never duplicate without looking completely schmaltzy and emotionally heavy-handed. Something innocent, unassuming, unphony, completely unforced (am I being redundant?). There's a natural style and grace. I feel blessed that films like these exist and lucky to stumble upon them now and then.

18 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
August´s best., 9 March 2001

Author: McBuff from Slagelse, Denmark

Years before Bille August made a habit of turning classic novels into mediocre films, he made this compelling coming-of-age drama set in the suburbs of Copenhagen in the late fifties. The story focuses on three teens from different backgrounds, the manipulative upperclass rich kid Steen (Peter Reichhardt), clean-cut middleclass boy Bjørn (Adam Tønsberg) and the lowerclass overweight prankster Mulle (Morten Hoff). The boys´ confrontations with love, crime and violence is beautifully but unflinchingly portrayed by director August, who never hits a false note in characterization or period detail. Alternately funny and disturbingly violent, but always entertaining, this is one of the truly great Danish films ever made, but has sadly never found an audience outside Scandinavia, unlike its decent sequel "Tro, håb & Kærlighed" (Twist and Shout), which was released in America. Many classic scenes (including the grossest way to eat snails you´ll ever see!)

8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A really great film!, 9 December 2005

Author: ebsbel from Sweden

A great film about adolescence. I wish more people could see this film, because it is a true masterpiece. It isn't just a pleasant movie about growing up. It contains some truly powerful and painful scenes. Not with blood and violence, but with small and subtle means Bille August portrays the clash between good and evil when boys grow up to be men. The sequel, Tro, håb og kærlighed or Twist and shout is also a good movie, but it is somewhat superfluous because Zappa contains everything that a film about young people should contain. Quite a lot of danish films are very good when it comes to portraying the good and bad of growing up. Most of Bille Augusts early films are good, but other directors have made great films like Tree of Knowledge (1981), Dance of the Polar Bears (1990), Den Store badedag (1991) or for the younger kids Guldregn (1988). In my opinion though, Zappa is by far the strongest movie of them all.

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Not as good as "Twist and Shout" but close, 7 December 2006

Author: Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States

Danish coming of age story. Bjorn and his buddy Mulle (who is cheerful and immature) start to become friends with Steen who is a big bully. Steen has a horrible home life and takes it out on everybody else. He pulls Bjorn and Mulle into more and more dangerous situations...and it all ends tragically.

This came before "Twist and Shout" but was released in the US after (because "Twist..." was such a big hit). This was good but not as good as the later film. The characters aren't as well-developed and the situations Steen pulls the boys into are disturbing (and unbelievable). Also I thought the ending was far too sick for any coming of age story. Still the acting was good and it's not a boring film--just pretty depressing. Beautiful closing shot too. Worth seeing--but see "Twist and Shout" too.

is this the movie ?, 24 May 2007
Author: arturomora85 from Mexico

once i saw a movie, but i never knew the title of it, and i wanna know if it is Zappa Can u tell me if this is the movie with this scene: ? . . . . a kid/ teenager is at the home of his friend, and the other one is showing him the fish he has in a tank fish, then he leaves the room, and when he comes back he notices his friend killed his fish and they start fighting, and one of them kills the other with a wrench or something. ? . . . . thanks the movie was about violence and i don't really remember what else, i guess there was another scene where a kid goes home and its someone birthday and he hugs his little brother. i hope u can help me to find the movie,

0 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Parakeets be warned, 2 November 2009

Author: thesar-2 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I had no idea what I was getting myself into upon renting 'Zappa' a foreign, coming-of-age story from 1983 set decades earlier. And decades later, I have doubts it would be made the same, in the USA, at least. This movie was hard-core: child full-frontal nudity, multiple scenes of children smoking and drinking, direct sexual experiences and the actual, brutal killing of two animals. (Sure they might have used props, but it definitely looked real.) For 1983, it "might" have been "before it's time," but to my own recollection, I cannot think of a more hard-R (or NC-17) approach to a "sweet" coming-of-age story. Still, I am giving it 3/5 stars as the rest of the film was very well made. It's a story of a bully and his follower(s) and the bully's eventual downfall. The acting, for the kid's ages, was good, but the adults looked like morons. No wonder the kids got away with so much. I really can't say much more about this, having watched it. I guess I can comment on how it really didn't make an impression on me as, aside from the graphic scenes, I thought it was just about average. There's a sequel, or continuation ('Twist & Shout') but if it includes all-but child pornography/child sex/animal abuse, I think I might skip. I'm sure that sort of thing happens (alas, not in my childhood – why must I've waited years to experience what they did, I'll never know) but sometimes just the implied scene can suffice. Side Note: I do own two parakeets and since one of the animals murdered was a parakeet, I might just let them watch it as a lesson on when I say "shhh" as they're chirping loudly through a movie watching, they better listen.

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