The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa

What a jolt it was to begin a college literature program and be introduced to 20th century European literature, specifically Franz Kafka. I read everything by him and was left confused at every turn. This short story is remarkable, but the film can't capture the psychologically being that it portrays. Still, it does have a haunting, edgy quality to it.

This is a film where the viewer will probably just sit there and wonder "how did they ever do that?!", as the animation style is unique and very clever. While I have seen a few films like this that used sand as a medium for animation, it's not typically used for animated films--that's for sure. Because the film didn't use colors and the sand looks very dark (like fine metal shavings), the overall mood is very dark. This is good, actually, as Kafka's story "Metamorphosis" is a very dark tale. It all begins with a man awakening to discover that he's now a giant cockroach in bed. Why? Dunno and it sure sucks to be him! All this animation is set to violin music and it works very well. The only negatives are that the story is awfully familiar as well as a bit depressing. But, considering how nicely done it all is, this can easily be ignored.