If you've seen Welles' `The Trial' and Reed's `The Third Man,' then you've
seen all the best parts of this movie. Literally, you've seen the best
shots, the most dramatic moments, and best acting to be found in `Kafka,'
but much better. Even the score is a faded photocopy echo of `The Third
Man's' hypnotic zither tune.
The worst part is that all these yummy bits of `The Trial' and `The Third
Man' are strung together with a few biographical references, some of the
Third Man's plot, and an only slightly intriguing B-movie end. There isn't
a moment of this movie that is `absurd' in a Kafkaesque way. Instead of
being menacing and utterly unknowable, the bits and pieces of Kafka's work
that find their way into the plot are too annoying to even be
baffling.
But, if you've never read Kafka or seen `the Trial,' `Nosferatu' and `the
Third Man,' this movie will look like pure genius. Alec Guinness is
hilarious. Kafka is a role that Jeremy Irons is perfect for, but he never
gets much to do. Theresa Russel is super. The pacing of the scenes is very
nice.
company.
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