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Kafka (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Kafka' is a 1991 mystery thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Ostensibly a biopic, based on the life of Franz Kafka, the film blurs the lines between fact and Kafka's fiction (most notably 'The Castle' and 'The Trial'), creating a Kafkaesque atmosphere. It was written by Lem Dobbs, and stars Jeremy Irons in the title role, with Theresa Russell, Ian Holm, Jeroen Krabb, Joel Grey, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Alec Guinness. It was partially filmed on location in Prague.
Released after Soderbergh's critically acclaimed debut 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' it was the first of what would be a series of low-budget box-office disappointments. It has since become a cult film, being compared to Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil' and David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch'.
Plot
Set in the city of Prague in 1919, 'Kafka' tells the tale of an insurance clerk who gets involved with an underground group after one of his co-workers is murdered. The underground group, responsible for bombings all over town, attempts to thwart a secret organization that controls the major events in society. He eventually penetrates the secret organization in order to confront them.
Cast
Reception
'Kafka' was met with mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50%, based on 24 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "'Kafka' does not rise to the artistic success of its subject, struggling to approximate the nightmarish absurdity that defined the author's work despite thoughtful direction by Steven Soderbergh and a gorgeous black and white color palette."
Alternate version
In a 2013 interview with 'Vulture,' Soderbergh stated that the rights to the film had reverted to him and executive producer Paul Rassam, and that work had begun on a "completely different" version of the film. Soderbergh reported that he and Lem Dobbs did some rewriting, inserts were shot during the making of 'Side Effects', and he planned to dub the film into German and release both the original and new version together. In 2020, he announced he had finished the new version, and would release it as part of a box set. The new version, titled 'Mr. Kneff', debuted at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.
References
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