Kafka (1991)

When I heard that there is a biopic about the life of famed writer Franz Kafka, I was understandably excited. A film about the novelist who wrote The Metamorphosis (that book about that guy who inexplicably turns into a bug) and The Trial (that book about that guy who is inexplicably prosecuted by unidentified authorities for an unspecified crime) should be phenomenal, especially since he has had an immense cultural influence and is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. While I haven’t read any of Kafka’s books, I periodically use the term “Kafkaesque”, which means “marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity or surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger”, to great comic effect. Kafka, directed by Steven Soderbergh, is supposed to be a film based on the life of the writer and, as Wikipedia puts it, “blurs the lines between fact and Kafka’s fiction (most notably The Castle and The Trial), creating a Kafkaesque atmosphere”. As I understand it, the film is neither based on Kafka’s life nor does it tease out the more interesting elements that characterize his work. And there are too many questions left unanswered. Who was that babe and why was she blowing stuff up? What was Kafka, played by Jeremy Irons (the pedophile in Lolita [1997]; the voice of Scar in The Lion King), trying to figure out? Why was that zombie chasing him? What did a terribly aged, almost unrecognizable Obi-Wan Kenobi say and what did it mean? Why did the movie at one point go from black and white to colour? Why did it later go back to black and white? What was the purpose of that huge machine? And how did the movie end? I took a whiz and when I got back the movie was already over and I didn’t bother re-watching what I missed because I just could not follow the plot. Don’t get me wrong, Irons is superb (his unease and distress in the face of looming crisis is masterful) and Soderbergh (whose Che I actually really liked, though I can’t name another film by him) deftly creates a sinister, ominous atmosphere. But (ironically?) it was the writing that didn’t make any sense! The film is basically Irons in a bunch of puzzling, hypercomplex situations which he struggles to control and the viewer is constantly wondering what, when, where, why, and how. I don’t know. Kafka should have been Irons turning into a bug and then being put on trail. Ha ha! I bet that would have sold tickets at the box office!

Grade: B-

Verdict: Don’t watch it unless you’re more than superficially acquainted with Kafka’s oeuvre, buddy!