''Zappa'' is a 1983 Danish
coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Bille August
Bille August (born 9 November 1948) is a Danish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer of film and television. In a career spanning over four decades, he has been the recipient of numerous accolades, making him one of the most acclaimed co ...
. It was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the
1983 Cannes Film Festival and was entered into the
13th Moscow International Film Festival.
The film was also selected as the Danish entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
56th Academy Awards
The 56th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1983 and took place on April 9, 1984, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, beginning at 6:00 p. ...
, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Zappa was adapted for the screen from the novel by the same name by
Bjarne Reuter
Bjarne Reuter (born 29 April 1950) is a Danish writer and screenwriter best known for children's and young adult fiction.Twist and Shout
"Twist and Shout" is a 1961 song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns (later credited as "Bert Russell"). It was originally recorded by the Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers ...
'' in English.
Cast
*
Adam Tønsberg as Bjørn
*
Morten Hoff as Mulle
*
Peter Reichhardt
Peter Reichhardt (born 7 January 1967) is a Danish actor and theatre director. He is the son of actors Poul Reichhardt
Poul David Reichhardt (2 February 1913 – 31 October 1985) was a Danish actor, well known for his roles in Danish 194 ...
as Steen
*
Lone Lindorff as Bjørn's mother
*
Arne Hansen as Bjørn's father
*
Thomas Nielsen
Thomas Bratboel Nielsen (16 March 1974) is a former Danish cricketer. Nielsen was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium.
Farooq represented Denmark Under-19's in 4 youth One Day Internationals in 1998, He later made his deb ...
as Henning
*
Solbjørg Højfeldt
Solbjørg Højfeldt (born 10 June 1947, in Copenhagen) is a Danish actress. She has performed in more than fifty films since 1978. She is married to Danish actor Henning Jensen.
Selected filmography
})
, Nete
,
, -
, 1997
, ''Taxa''
, E ...
as Steen's mother
*
Bent Raahauge Jørgensen as Steen's father (as Bent Raahauge)
*
Inga Bjerre Bloch
''Inga'' is a genus of small tropical, tough-leaved, nitrogen-fixing treesElkan, Daniel. "Slash-and-burn farming has become a major threat to the world's rainforest" ''The Guardian'' 21 April 2004 and shrubs, subfamily Mimosoideae. ''Inga''s l ...
as Mulle's mother
*
Jens Okking
Jens Dyhr Okking, (18 December 1939 – 21 January 2018) was a Danish actor, singer and politician.
Jens Okking was mostly known outside of Denmark from Lars von Triers TV-series '' The Kingdom''. In Denmark, Okking was a notable actor for many ...
as Mulle's father
*
Elga Olga Svendsen as Bjørn's grandmother
*
Willy Jacobsen as Bjørn's Grandfather
*
Ulrikke Bondo as Kirsten
*
Søren Frølund as Teacher 'Kaalormen'
*
Michael Shomacker as Asger
Reception
The film was reviewed in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' in 1984,
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
stating that "Mr. August has made ''Zappa'' a suspenseful, moving drama, with concerns that are as troubling as they are universally recognizable."
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for '' The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013. reviewed ''Zappa'' for the
AV Club
Av (also Menachem Av, ; from Akkadian ''ʾAbū'' "father") is the eleventh month of the civil year and the fifth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. The name comes from Araḫ Abu, "month of Abu", from the Babylonian calend ...
in 2004, writing that he saw it as a "masterfully bleak coming-of-age drama" and that "the film's unnerving power comes from its realization that everyone is doomed to go through adolescence alone."
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
and
AllMovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
also reviewed, with the former commenting that it was "a pretty intense piece or work" and superior to its sequel.
In a review for
''Positif'', François Ramasse praised the film's intelligence and its shift from gentleness to violence.
See also
*
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zappa (Film)
1983 films
1983 drama films
1980s coming-of-age drama films
1980s Danish-language films
Films directed by Bille August
Danish coming-of-age drama films