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IMDbPro

Kafka

  • 19911991
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
10K
YOUR RATING
Kafka (1991)
Theatrical Trailer from Miramax
Play trailer1:23
1 Video
99+ Photos
  • Drama
  • Mystery
  • Sci-Fi
Kafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.Kafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.Kafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
10K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Steven Soderbergh
  • Writer
    • Lem Dobbs
  • Stars
    • Jeremy Irons
    • Theresa Russell
    • Joel Grey
Top credits
  • Director
    • Steven Soderbergh
  • Writer
    • Lem Dobbs
  • Stars
    • Jeremy Irons
    • Theresa Russell
    • Joel Grey
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 54User reviews
    • 34Critic reviews
    • 46Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 2 nominations

    Videos1

    Kafka
    Trailer 1:23
    Kafka

    Photos104

    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)
    Kafka (1991)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jeremy Irons
    Jeremy Irons
    • Franz Kafkaas Franz Kafka
    Theresa Russell
    Theresa Russell
    • Gabrielaas Gabriela
    Joel Grey
    Joel Grey
    • Burgelas Burgel
    Ian Holm
    Ian Holm
    • Doctor Murnauas Doctor Murnau
    Jeroen Krabbé
    Jeroen Krabbé
    • Bizzlebekas Bizzlebek
    Armin Mueller-Stahl
    Armin Mueller-Stahl
    • Grubachas Grubach
    Alec Guinness
    Alec Guinness
    • The Chief Clerkas The Chief Clerk
    Brian Glover
    Brian Glover
    • Castle Henchmanas Castle Henchman
    Keith Allen
    Keith Allen
    • Assistant Ludwigas Assistant Ludwig
    Simon McBurney
    Simon McBurney
    • Assistant Oscaras Assistant Oscar
    Robert Flemyng
    Robert Flemyng
    • The Keeper of the Filesas The Keeper of the Files
    Matyelok Gibbs
    • Conciergeas Concierge
    Ion Caramitru
    Ion Caramitru
    • Solemn Anarchistas Solemn Anarchist
    Hilde Van Mieghem
    Hilde Van Mieghem
    • Female Anarchistas Female Anarchist
    • (as Hilde Van Meighem)
    Jan Nemejovský
    Jan Nemejovský
    • Mustachioed Anarchistas Mustachioed Anarchist
    Toon Agterberg
    • Youthful Anarchistas Youthful Anarchist
    Maria Miles
    • Annaas Anna
    Vladimír Gut
    • Edwardas Edward
    • Director
      • Steven Soderbergh
    • Writer
      • Lem Dobbs
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Just before going to the Castle, Kafka (Jeremy Irons) ask Bizzlebek (Jeroen Krabbé) to burn his manuscripts if he never came back. Bizzlebek replies "such an extraordinary request". This is in reference of the real request Kafka asked his friend Max Brod before dying. Brod couldn't go with the request, and had Kafka's work published.
    • Quotes

      Doctor Murnau: A crowd is easier to control than an individual. A crowd has a common purpose. The purpose of the individual is always in question.

      Franz Kafka: That's what you're trying to eliminate, isn't it? Everything that makes one human being different from another. But you'll *never*, *never* reach a man's soul through a lens.

      Doctor Murnau: That rather depends on which end of the microscope you're on, doesn't it?

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Bugsy/Let Him Have It/At Play in the Fields of the Lord/Kafka (1991)
    • Soundtracks
      Eddie's Dead (Main Title)
      Composed by Cliff Martinez

      (p) & © 1992 Virgin Records America, Inc.

      distributed by WEA through arrangement with Atlantic Records.

    User reviews54

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    A Kafkanian World On Screen
    Steven Soderbergh's cult "Kafka" is not a biopic of writer Franz Kafka, yet it has references of his works such as "The Castle", passages of his life (where he tells to a friends to burn his manuscripts away without showing his writings to the public) and a main character who happens to be a writer named Kafka.

    The extremely shy Kafka (Jeremy Irons) works in a bureaucratic place where he also writes to himself a few stories and some letters to his father. In this same place he only has one friend, a guy named Edward Raban who disappeared mysteriously. Kafka starts a strange journey trying to figure out what happened to his friend entering in a dangerous game with some strange figures such as Edward's lover and Kafka's co-worker (Theresa Russell) and her revolutionary friends; a very friendly figure who knows too much (Jeroen Krabbé); Grubach a police inspector (Armin Mueller-Stahl); and some of his own work colleagues such as his new assistants (Keith Allen and Simon McBurney), his estranged boss (Alec Guinness) and the annoying Mr. Burgel (Joel Grey); and at last Dr. Murnau (Ian Holm).

    In a magnificent performance Jeremy Irons makes of his Kafka a man suffocated by the environment where he lives and the only way to escape of it it's to write stories that reflect his life in an awkward way and/or his life as an "investigator" that took him to darker places that could have been a source of inspiration for his works. The movie goes to tell us that he lived in a bizarre and very surrealistic place with surrealistic figures all around him and they were always trying to watch his next step, what he was doing and Kafka run away from this people, hides his writing works. This is a good thriller material!

    Soderbergh makes of "Kafka" a good humored film noir that has a great mystery to be solved, the rhythm of the film is intertwined with some slow paced moments where you can pause your brain to solve some of the puzzles, a frantic suspense that goes to complete a surrealistic plot. The final result is a great movie with nothing obvious and it makes good homages to Kafka's work, and homages to another classic films. It is an interesting cross between "The Third Man" and "Brazil", the visual of those two films combined along with the almost colorless Kafka's books are put together in here.

    Walt Lloyd's cinematography is one of the most interesting and effective work ever made in film history, a photography that goes from black and white to color in a great way, showing these two worlds that seem to distant so each other when in fact they're close enough. In this case you can sense that the colorful world presented in the castle isn't better than the oppressive grey world outside of its dominions, the colors are presented only to tell us a frightening reality that is so shocking that we really want to go back to the black and white world along with Kafka. And as a great mind said one time: "The black and white doesn't lie".

    Unnoticed in its time "Kafka" is a cult film that must be revered by everyone and must of all revered by Kafka's fans even though this is not a biographical movie, it's more like a film that reveals more of his persona and an invitation to visually penetrate to his own creations. Or don't you think that we don't live in a Kafkanian nightmare in a Kafkanian world? 10/10
    helpful•23
    2
    • Rodrigo_Amaro
    • Jan 18, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 15, 1991 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 卡夫卡
    • Filming locations
      • Prague, Czech Republic
    • Production companies
      • Baltimore Pictures
      • Pricel
      • Renn Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $11,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,059,071
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $40,814
      • Dec 8, 1991
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,059,071
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 38 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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