Year of Release: 1991
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Ian Holm, Joel Grey, Jeroen Krabbe, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Alec Guiness, Brian Glover, Keith Allen, Simon McBurney, Robert Flemyng
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
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Synopsis and Review:
Following his auspicious debut with the fantastic "sex, lies and videotape", director Steven Soderbergh tackled a decidedly different material, working from a script from Lem Dobbs, whom he'd work with again on "The Limey" and "Haywire". "Kafka" though not a traditional biopic, is centered on the famed author, known for "The Trial", "The Castle" and "The Metamorphosis", to name but a few. The film introduces us to Kafka, an insurance clerk, who is also an unpublished author, living in a city which appears to be Prague, in 1919. When one of his co-workers is murdered, he starts investigating the occurrence, and finds himself tangled with an underground group, responsible for bombings around town. The goal of this group is to damage the control that a secret organization has over major events taking place in society. The root of all this control seems to lie in the castle which looms over the city, where Kafka goes, in order to understand the full scope of these occurrences.
"Kafka" is a film that has been relegated to cult status. Upon its release, it largely flew under the radar, and unfairly so, since it's a film that takes the mantle of Franz Kafka's career, and makes it a suspenseful and claustrophobic thriller/mystery. The film is a mix of a quasi-biopic with a mystery, showcasing the influences from several of the author's books, creating in the process an interesting narrative. The invisible and oppressive authority, the conspiracy that is never clarified, the absurdity of situations, all of those are topics present in the author's work, that permeate the film. Unlike his previous film though, this one does not depict the characters as fully dimensional, but Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell and Ian Holm, all manage to create interesting and captivating identities for themselves in this darkly lit mystery. It's a film that entertains and showcases the point of view of a great director, who at the time was still finding his path. The cinematography from Walt Lloyd is fantastic, as is the score from Cliff Martinez. An underrated gem from a great director.
"Kafka" is a film that has been relegated to cult status. Upon its release, it largely flew under the radar, and unfairly so, since it's a film that takes the mantle of Franz Kafka's career, and makes it a suspenseful and claustrophobic thriller/mystery. The film is a mix of a quasi-biopic with a mystery, showcasing the influences from several of the author's books, creating in the process an interesting narrative. The invisible and oppressive authority, the conspiracy that is never clarified, the absurdity of situations, all of those are topics present in the author's work, that permeate the film. Unlike his previous film though, this one does not depict the characters as fully dimensional, but Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell and Ian Holm, all manage to create interesting and captivating identities for themselves in this darkly lit mystery. It's a film that entertains and showcases the point of view of a great director, who at the time was still finding his path. The cinematography from Walt Lloyd is fantastic, as is the score from Cliff Martinez. An underrated gem from a great director.
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