Synopsis
Kafka, an insurance worker gets embroiled in an underground group after a co-worker is murdered. The underground group is responsible for bombings all over town, attempting to thwart a secret organization that controls the major events in society. He eventually penetrates the secret organization and must confront them.
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Cast
- Jeremy IronsKafka
- Theresa RussellGabriela
- Joel GreyBurgel
- Ian HolmDr. Murnau
- Jeroen KrabbéBizzlebek
- Armin Mueller-StahlGrubach
- Alec GuinnessThe Chief Clerk
- Brian GloverCastle Hechman
- Keith AllenAss. Ludwig
- Simon McBurneyAssistant Oscar
Recommendations
- 88
Miami Herald
The design of the film is breathtaking at times, veering from the jagged hyperbole of German expressionism to the drolleries of English comedy at its most daft, if not most broad. [7 Feb. 1992, p.G5] - 78
Austin Chronicle
Humor is a key ingredient in Kafka, though it definitely leans toward the wry and quirky. The movie loses some of its clarity and narrative force in mid-story however, though it never abandons its original visual style and focus. - 75
Orlando Sentinel
If, finally, Kafka doesn't add up to enough, it at least demonstrates that Soderbergh has a visual facility to go along with the narrative talent he showed in "sex, lies, and videotape." [21 Feb. 1992, p.17] - 75
Portland Oregonian
The slightly overdone feeling of the photography, the archly evocative acting and Cliff Martinez's music also impart a sly sense of the absurd. Kafka recalls the old joke that reminds us that even paranoids have enemies. [12 Feb. 1992, p.C07] - 50
Chicago Sun-Times
Kafka, as subject or character, simply doesn't fit into the world of this film. Soderbergh does demonstrate again here that he's a gifted director, however unwise in his choice of project. - 50
Chicago Tribune
Steven Soderbergh's Kafka is a surprisingly cold, gray and flavorless follow-up to "sex, lies and videotape." [7 Feb. 1992] - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
It sounds promising, but it doesn't work. You get the feeling that Soderbergh, so early in his directing career, has exceeded his reach -- that the com- plicated logistics of making a film on location in eastern Europe, compounded with the challenge of bringing to life such a fundamentally lonely and passive figure, had stymied him. [17 Jan. 1992, p.D1] - 38
Boston Globe
Despite its good looks and expertly turned performances, it trivializes Kafka and his work. The simplistic optimism behind it is more terrifying than anything we actually see on screen. Sitting through Kafka is like watching somebody staff a suicide hotline by telling callers to just lighten up. [21 Feb. 1992, p.28]
