La belle vie de Franz Kafka

Being an admirer of Franz Kafka from high school years, it is not easy for me to be very indulgent about this film. Sure, I admire the ingeniosity of Peter Capaldi to imagine the festation of The Matamorphosis in Christmas Eve touched by Frank Capra classic film.

I can understand the ooption for Richard E Grant as Kafka or the visitors - neighbors.

But something remains wrong and weird. A too ad usum Delphini, like a sort of easy joke. No doubts, noble intention and serious fist of cliches.

But, sure, as nice short film for Christmas, it can work in decent manner , flattering part of audience. Fact not so bad.

Reality. It's a funny thing. Franz Kafka was a devoted Torah Jew. Therefore, it's difficult to plumb the depths to how vapid this "Academy Award-winning" short is. Rather than being a melange of styles which would make Kafka or Capra proud, it is a strange adaptation of, really, Dickens. I guess Kafka has similar phonemes to Capra, which has similar look to Capaldi, and we are all supposed to be mesmerized that Dr. Who wrote a teleplay.

But even IF Kafka celebrated Christmas, which he most assuredly did not, or even IF Kafka resided in some neo-Victorian hostel, which he most assuredly did not, this "comedy" is unfunny, the "originality" is repetitive, and the sanctimoniousness with which it is presented, is both sleep-inducing and nausea-inducing.

The special effects are only fair, the story makes absolutely no sense, the comic timing is WAY off, and it is NOT true that it rivals ANY Monty Python episode or vignette for larfs or snarfs. There is nothing surreal here, nothing paranoid, nothing noir - in short, nothing Kafkaesque. It is NOT Capraesque either, but merely a shadow of Dickensian which ought to star Burl Ives and Jaclyn Smith.

I love Kafka and Kafkaesque. The Trial is one of my favorites. Metamorphosis is grand. This is drek.

A fascinating and unique film from the BBC which received much critical buzz in England, though relatively little attention stateside. 'Tis a pity, as the colonists would get a kick out of it.

When I saw this, I was intrigued. I was pleasantly suprised at it's dark, yet light style of wit. It will make you tense, then you will laugh.

To describe it is really to give a lot away. Just check it out if you get a chance.

A slip of the tongue by actor Peter Capaldi's wife inspired him to write and make this Oscar winning gem. Richard E. Grant gives wonderful performance as the tortured Franz Kafka who struggles with the opening line of 'Metamorphosis' amid the distractions of his dark and sinister rooming house. Disturbances include a girls party, a lady trying to deliver a giant insect costume' and a psychotic knife sharpener, (another marvellous performance by Ken Stott),who has lost his little friend.

The black and white cutaway sequences showing his various inspirations for Gregor transformations are hilarious. The final scene, where the story strands are tied up and all the characters brought together in a twisted version of the finale of 'It's a Wonderful Life' is funny and moving at the same time.

The perfect Christmas film for the slightly odd.