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Kafka (1991)

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20 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Kafka, brought to life by Soderbergh, 14 July 2001

Author: jonathandoe_se7en

Many filmmakers have often failed when attempting to adapt the work of writer Franz Kafka (most famously Orson Wells), so it comes as quite a surprise to see Steven Soderbergh mixing his life and fiction with fantastic results. The story concerns Kafka (a never better Jeremy Irons) investigating the disappearance of one of his work colleagues. The plot takes Kafka through many of the writer's own works, most notably "The Castle" and "The Trial"...

With his follow up to the cool indie hit Sex, lies and videotape (1989) Soderbergh switches both style and ideas completely, creating an evocative and ethereal world of 1920 Prague, full of shadows and bizarre mutations. He also employs shifts between colour and black and white film stock, to give the film a more dreamlike feel.

Visually it is similar to another film from the same year, Lars Von Trier's Europa (1991), which also was about a man searching for the truth. But Kafka is more accessible, being both a gripping thriller and in some ways a black comedy. But however you choose to look at it, there is no denying Kafka's ability to amaze and enthral.

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20 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
It's all a conspiracy..., 25 March 2004

Author: BroadswordCallinDannyBoy from Boston, MA

This is a really weird movie. People will instantly recognize that it is an adaptation of Franz Kafka's writing, and that's exactly what it is. It isn't an adaptation of any one book of his, but rather of his writing as a whole. All the Kafka-esquire things you'd expect are here: conspiracy, paranoia, mystery, and the like. What is so amazing that they come together absolutely fantastically. The cinematography is especially ingenious and really captures the mysterious and cryptic look and feel of a Kafka tale. The use of color and B&W is pretty simple, but very effective. In fact the whole movie is pretty simple, there are no spectacular stunts or extraordinary set pieces, just a relentless, nail-biting, suspense as Kafka searches for answers to who murdered his friend. He receives help from a supposed rebel group who talks of a secret order and conspiracy that works from the confines of a mysterious looking building outside of town, but they are soon murdered...so Kafka goes to find the truth for himself. First-rate suspense all the way. 10/10

Rated PG-13: some violence and grim content

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16 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
'Why should today be different from any other?' - why should we even have dreams, huh?, 12 July 2001
Author: rogierr from Amsterdam, Netherlands

Not very accessible film about supposed parts of the life of Franz Kafka with fantastic distinctive music and great photography. I really think Soderbergh is one of few (Welles, Gilliam, Cronenberg, Roeg maybe) who are able to create something like this. He is one of the most versatile directors of our time. Only his third feature (right after 'Sex, Lies & Videotape') and definitely his best besides Traffic. This film is one of the reasons independent filmmaking is the only way to achieve great cinematic creations. Kafka's twilight and absurd world is really portrayed in an excellent way.

The cinematography by Walt Lloyd is absolutely brilliant. The best of all films from the nineties. It was probably inspired by Brazil (1985), The Third Man (1949) and The Trial (1963). I wish this film was 60 minutes longer. If only to give the cast more time to perform completely. The acting isn't uplifting, but definitely not bad. All the actors had better performances in other movies (Theresa Russell in Track 29, Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers, Jeroen Krabbe in King of the Hill, Ian Holm in Brazil).

10 points out of 10 ;-)

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10 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Subjective reality, 19 January 2002

Author: AdFin from UK

The above statement (coined by myself in an odd bout of pretension) refers to any film in which the central character inhabits a world in which he/she has no say in their own outcome; everything is pre-destined from the start. The actors therefore become mere marionettes, puppets controlled by the film-makers as a function to drive the plot, or the story that is unfolding in this world. With Kafka, we never really feel too much of a connection with the man himself (main character Kafka played by Jeremy Irons), but we are interested in his outcome because the subjective reality of his world draws us in. Sometimes this idea of the atmosphere of a film being what draws us in can go horribly wrong, it's not like say, Gone in 60 seconds (2000)... I'm not talking about a thick, glowing sludgy style of cinematography that has become all the more popular with younger film-makers. I am instead talking about the more classical style of film, composition, lighting and production design... Kafka has this in spades.

Steven Soderbergh is possibly the most talented director at work at the moment (that's debatable, but he is the most talented American director of the last fifteen years), his ability to effortlessly switch both genre and cinematic devise is a talent most directors lack, but Soderbergh went from the low-key drama of Sex, Lies & Videotape to the arty-thriller Kafka, and then moved onto the arty-low-key drama King of the Hill... Those where films that where brimming with ideas, mood and a strong independent visual sense, something his more recent films lack. With Kafka, Soderbergh applied the dark, noir-ish style of Wells and Bergman, with just the right blend of modern multi-media devises, colour is used to show the jarring contrast between the real-world (the subjective reality) to the horror's of the Castle. The skewed angles and the editing of certain scenes not only give the film a certain style, but help the audience identify between the different dreamscapes the film switches between, weather it be the world or Kafka's own imagination.

Much has been said in recent IMDB reviews about how the film is a betrayal of Kafka, having never read a word of Kafka I cannot comment, but I think people should allow Soderbergh and writer Lem Dobbs some artistic licensing. This is not an attempt to tell the life story of Kafka, it's more a "what if..." scenario, what if actual events dictated the writings of Kafka. The film blares the boundaries between fantasy and reality, and this is the point, this is why the film is set-up to conform to Subjective reality, we are being taken into Kafka's own world, a world he has absolutely no control over. Besides, most people are missing the point, and that is the film is a fantasy, not historical document, none of these would be literati's have mentioned the exemplary acting of all concerned.

Jeremy Irons is an actor I usually have little time for, in all honesty I have only seen a handful of his films and few of them left an impression, but here he is cast well, his stuffy British-ness and detached glare makes him an almost mythical figure, drifting around the city unsure of what will happen next. And the supporting cast is very credible, with roles for the legendary Alec Guinness, Ian Holm in a role not too dissimilar to the one he played in Gilliam's Brazil, Verhoeven regular Jeroen Krabbé puts in an appearance as one of Kafka's few allies and Armin Mueller-Stahl plays the dogged police inspector. The only annoyance amongst the cast is "Fat Les" himself Keith Allen as one half of a laughable (un)funny Laurel and Hardy-esque double act. Kafka is an unbelievably assured film from the (then) young Soderbergh that needs to be seen by more people besides Kafka fanatics who are only destroying the mystique of the film with their propaganda. This is a standout fantasy-thriller that has more style and intelligence than anything you'll find playing at you're local multiplex. 10/10

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Definitely not a case of "sophomore slump", 4 October 2001

Author: craigjclark from Haddonfield, NJ

Some see this film as a step down from Steven Soderbergh's brilliantly-constructed debut feature, "sex, lies and videotape." I see it as a significant step in his artistic development (even if its commercial and critical failure limited the audiences for his next several films). Certainly no one expected him to follow the low-key, character-driven "sex, lies" with such a complicated, stylized film as "Kafka."

An inspired script by Lem Dobbs and a great cast drive Soderbergh's visually rich film. Besides the leads, of note are Joel Grey as the self-important bureaucrat Burgel, Brian Glover as the menacing Castle Henchman, and Keith Allen and Simon McBurney as Kafka's side-splittingly incompetent "assistants." And Cliff Martinez's score (inspired by "The Third Man") is ingenious.

To call this film underrated would be a severe understatement.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Visually stunning and thematically complex melding of Kafka's life and work, 18 March 2008
Author: Graham Greene from United Kingdom

This is a somewhat curious film, attempting to be old-fashioned - in the sense that we have varying strands from an early-twentieth century writer, as well as setting, production design and various visual iconography - yet at the same time striving for a sense of post-modernist reinvention. So, what we end up with is a stunning, self-referential combination of the 'look' (which mixes elements of Carol Reed's The Third Man and Welles' Citizen Kane), with elements of the steam-punk sub-genre of films like Eraserhead, Brazil, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Barton Fink, etc . The story also concerns itself with the notions of the film-noir, both in terms of characterisation, narrative tension and visual design.

So, with Kafka (1991), we not only have the externally referential - of Kafka writing a story, whilst simultaneously involving himself in a real-life plot that will, in turn, become the story he is writing (The Castle) - but also the internal references to Kafka's own biographical history; from his job at the insurance company, to the difficult relationship with his father, and also his failed love affair etc. In the lead role we have one of Britain's most competent actors, Jeremy Irons, who, although never looking exactly like Kafka, does at least manage to embody the quiet, stubborn, meticulous spirit of the writer (or, at least the image that we have of him). His performance is one of complete restraint, far removed from some of his more caricatured performances of recent years, as he offers up a mirrored perspective for the audience; lingering in the background of the scene and simply reacting to what is going on around him (again, a popular device from Kafka's work).

Director Steven Soderbergh compliments and visualises the screenplay by Lem Dobbs exceptionally well, drawing on the aforementioned influences in a similar, post-modernistic way to their subsequent 1999 collaboration, The Limey. Soderbergh also offers us a depiction of a crumbling Europe thrown into confusion, creating a fully functioning world, much like Ridley Scott did with Blade Runner - offering us an illustration of the past by way of the future - or a depiction of Europe in decline to rival that of Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), von Trier's Europa (1991) and Soderbergh own subsequent film, The Good German (2006). So, whereas most films are content to create, or in this case recreate, early-twentieth century iconography in which the past is as pristine and shockingly brand-new, as if it were created only a yesterday, here we get a past that is dirty, grimy, filled with smoke, fog and dust; in short... totally believable.

This is a film the people expect too much coherency from; something that Soderbergh's continual mainstream success has only damaged further. As more and more cinema-goers come to adore films like Oceans 11 (2000), Traffic (2001) and Solaris (2002), they come to Kafka expecting a mainstream Hollywood thriller. Kafka couldn't be further from this. Here is an intelligent film that draws on the audience's understanding of European cinema and, to some extent, Kafka's own literary back-catalogue in order to piece together the film's central mystery. The main reference point is Kafka's book The Castle; here featured as an imposing fortress atop a shadowy hill. Inside, Kafka finds Ian Holm's mad scientist and the film switches to glorious Technicolor. There are also allusions made to The Trail, with Armin Mueller-Stahl's detective doggedly questioning Kafka's whereabouts and the integrity of his 'story' (an important factor within the film's internal struggle), as well as a direct reference to The Metamorphosis and some of the writer's more abstract shorter pieces.

Soderbergh and Dobbs aren't concerned with pandering to anyone here; they allow the story to remain, much like Kafka himself, an enigma. The story grips us like film-noir should, and Soderbergh keeps us enthralled with his constantly inventive camera work. This is a perfect film that deals with notions of fact and fiction, dreams and reality. The filmmakers respect our intelligence; they understand that some question can remain unanswered and film can work better as a result of this. Whether or not you believe the story to have taken place entirely in Kafka's head (note how the last shot of the film sees Kafka at his writing desk) or whether you see it as the mirroring of fact and fiction is entirely up to you. With fine support from Theresa Russell, Jeroen Krabbé and Alec Guinness, coupled with an exotic Cliff Martinez score, what we have with Kafka is one of the best and most underrated films of the nineteen nineties. A unique experience.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
About an answer, 24 December 2006

Author: Vincentiu from Romania

A good movie about a good man. A game with life's pieces and work's pieces, a story about a ghost. Kafka like character, more heroic, more strange and free. But who is Franz Kafka in this new space? A friend, a searcher, a victim? The film is only a view of a small world. Kafka is created like symbol and mark of a solitude who live in everybody. Is he the real "Castle"'s author? No! The problem is that: we seen the image of a film-maker about a great writer. Not his biography, not elements of his life, not a real life. Maybe, only a story of fear and sense. "Life is dream" is an old sign of normality. But for many people the dream is only way to believe that they lives. For me, Franz Kafka is the most important writer of the XXth century. Auschwitz, the Gulag, Pol Pot's crimes or September 11 are the pieces of his writings. The importance of this film is to create a answer at reality. The each people's reality. Is a good/ bad answer? Who cares?

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Takes some thought, 21 February 2003
Author: Ichiro from United States

There's no question that Soderbergh wanted to make a film noir and found in Lem Dobbs' script the ideal vehicle (when I first saw it, someone in line claimed that Soderbergh hailed Dobb's screenplay as the best he had ever read). The struggle many have with the script is that it requires a degree of understanding about Kafka, his life, his work, as well as elements of world history from 1919 (the film's time period) to 1991 (the years of the film's release, shortly--ironically--after the Velvet Revolution).

In 1991, I was at a loss, yet so in awe of the film's daring visual style that I wanted to know more. I read the works of Kafka, studied his biography, even visited Prague. Today I feel I have a better understanding of the film ... and yet I am no better off for it. It seems unfair that a film requires such additional research for one to enjoy it (like the bibliography at the beginning of Pasolini's SALO). The only function movies like this serve is to enable dreary intellectuals to peer down their noses at movie fans and chastise of for "not getting it."

That said, KAFKA is a riveting piece of filmmaking. Don't try to understand it or even think you have to. Just take in the rich cinematography, the powerfully understated acting and some of the quirky dialogue. It's one of those films that you find yourself enjoying without really understanding why.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Kafka caught up in his own Kafkaesque Nightmare, 12 May 1999

Author: Rich-99 from New York

Despite his bizarre literary output Franz Kafka lived a fairly mundane and normal life. "Kafka" is not a biography but a psychological thriller that puts Kafka in a real nightmare not unlike something he might have concocted. In brief people, miners from a particular town, are dying and their families paid insurance money. But have they died? If not what happened to them? This is the central mystery around which circulate anarchists, a sinister police inspector (brilliantly portrayed by Mueller Stahl), lost loves, totally different identical twins and a philosopher grave digger who knows more about less than anyone else. Snippets of situations from Kafka's novels are also ingeniously used in places. For reasons that will become apparent the film is in black and white and for a brief period in color. While it is a drama the tongue is delightfully in cheek for most of the film. Even if you do not know Kafka's writings you can enjoy the film on its own as a thriller. One of the more ingenious films of recent years that not only makes you think but provides a good time along the way.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Bizarre And Enjoyable Arty Horror-Drama With Great Cast, 18 June 2005

Author: ShootingShark from Dundee, Scotland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Kafka, a clerk at a Prague insurance firm, is upset when a friend mysteriously vanishes. Investigating the disappearance, he uncovers a group of terrorists trying to expose a secret police state where all non-conformists are kidnapped and murdered.

This is a terrific mosaic of a picture; part biopic (Franz Kafka was a clerk, did not get on with his father, asked a friend to destroy his manuscripts and died of tuberculosis), part adaptation of Kafka's fiction (notably The Castle and The Trial), part homage to German expressionist cinema (Holm's character is called Murnau), and an enjoyably scary Gothic thriller with a great mad cast. Irons is a perfectly repressed hero, Russell is as gorgeous and intimidating as ever, Krabbe steals his scenes as a canny gravedigger, Mueller-Stahl is a copper from forties film-noir complete with razor-blade voice, Glover is an iconic villain and Allen and McBurney have a whale of a time as two pratfalling assistants. The script is a bit disposable, but it captures the essence of Kafka's nightmarish scribblings perfectly - hideous bureaucracy, impotent heroes, monstrous cabals, devious conspiracies and an overwhelming sense that truth and beauty are beyond our grasp. Shot in Prague in glorious black-and-white on fantastic period locations and stunning sets by production designer Gavin Bocquet. This is a great filmmaker's film - it's impossible to imagine it existing in any other form of expression, and it manages to be richly artistic but at the same time extremely enjoyable and completely lacking in pretension. Soderbergh is a bit of an enigma to me - this is a great movie, as is his subsequent film, King Of The Hill, but both bombed financially, whereas many of his later more commercial and critically-lauded movies are much less interesting. Check out Kafka though - it's got style, scares and terrific performances, and it's about the greatest paranoid fantastist that ever lived.

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