The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Caroline Leaf

Writers:

Franz Kafka (story)
Caroline Leaf (written by)

Genre:

Animation | Short

Plot Keywords:

Sand | Based On Short Story | Character Name In Title

Awards:

3 wins

Runtime:

10 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

None

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

American Film Institute (AFI)

Trivia:

The technique used here by Caroline Leaf consists of animating beach sand on a piece of glass.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Love in the Cold: Animation at the National Film Board of Canada (1994)

Canadian animation at its best

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

For the majority of viewers today animation means either Disney, Pixar or Japan. Or something just for children or light entertainment for children and adults or for some weirdos that look for hentai. A few know that Canada has some of the best animators worldwide. Norman McLaren, Frederick Back, Paul Driessen, Ryan Larkin to name a few, that influenced animation and even cinema forever. Caroline Leaf is one of them.

Kafka's works have always been a headache for film directors. How can his work, full of symbolism and nightmarish scenes, Freudian undertones and unique narrative be transferred on film?

Animation could offer an alternative way and this is exactly what Caroline Leaf tries to accomplish here. If you've read the original short novel of Kafka then you'll feel familiar. If not try to read it first since it will help a lot in appreciating the effort of the animator.

My only complaint is that she chose to animate Samsa as an actual cockroach, while in the novel this works rather symbolically. On the other hand the sound department excels and the way Samsa hears and grasps the sound or utters of his family is perfectly transferred from the novel. Despite the somehow blatant depiction of Samsa as a cockroach, the unique animation technique of C. Leaf produces marvels and sometimes it even transcends the book narrative and it offers even an alternative way, only very few could imagine. Samsa's sister looks a lot like Kafka's sister from the photographs.

This short animated film is a must watch for animation fans and for those who read the works of Franz Kafka and other similar authors.

Animation for adults can mean something else besides sex and violence and this is exactly what this film is about.