Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993) User Reviews

Capra and Kafka

[Prismark10 · 8/10 · 4 August 2013]

Written and directed by Peter Capaldi, better known as an actor but had aspirations to become a writer and director

This short film (jointly) won an Oscar for the best short film category.

Richard E Grant takes the title role as Franz Kafka trying to write the opening line of 'Metamorphosis' in his dark room while being disturbed by strange and sinister people.

Grant who has in the past given uneven acting performances is more inspired here.

The black and white short is of course surreal and comic, almost Pythonesque.

As the title of the film implies, it splices Kafka with Frank Capra!

What if Kafka was the main character of It's a Wonderful Life?

[thejohnrackham · 10/10 · 21 December 2003]

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.

Monty Python meets Orson Welles over the body of Franz Kafka with spectacular results!

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 7 April 2003]

Franz Kafka is probably still spinning over this one almost ten years after the fact. There are echos of suspense in this one, but mostly it resembles Python at its full-bore, full throttle best. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the costumer here also did costumes for The Python series. Too many moments to pick anything out, but it is absolutely wonderful. The incredibly serious among you will probably gnash teeth and pound thy breasts over the violation of Kafka, but the sufficiently twisted will love this! This won the Academy Award for Live-Action Short (in a tie with Trevor, he noted for accuracy's sake) and it's good to see this in print and available. Most highly recommended.

A fascinating short film

[DFWcrtic · 24 July 1999]

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.

This Is The Reason Short Films Exist

[gavin6942 · 10/10 · 5 January 2007]

Franz Kafka sits in his apartment trying to write "The Metamorphosis", but is bothered by a man selling knives and hacksaws, women throwing a party and a lady selling gag gifts. This, mixed with a twisted version of the Frank Capra film this movie is named after, makes for an interesting time.

One reviewer summarized this film as "Monty Python meets Orson Welles over the body of Franz Kafka with spectacular results!" I can see that. The Monty Python is the oddball humor, and the Franz Kafka is the main plot. But the Orson Welles really stands out, too, and maybe would not have if I had not read the review. The scenes in this film rely heavily on odd camera shots, many of them from under the floorboards or up stairs, giving the "larger than life" look Welles had in "Citizen Kane" when the cameraman sat in dug out hole. (Try it yourself, taking someone's photograph from a seated position while they stand -- gigantic!)

The main character (Kafka) is played beautifully by Richard E. Grant. I obviously never met Kafka personally, but Grant portrays him as a paranoid and idiosyncratic, eccentric germophobe. Yeah, I think that pretty much captures the idea (have you read Kafka's "The Trial"?). Grant is known from other projects, but this might well be his master performance.

The secondary characters are also nice... the salesman is great and the woman at the party is perfect for the role. And we need not forget the man playing Gregor Samsa... nice acting and fine singing! The way the footage for the Samsa parts was made to look very old (1920s) was a nice touch, giving off a comedic Charlie Chaplinesque quality.

If you can find this in your local video store, pick it up. As a short film, even if you don't like it, the movie will be over before you realize it. But I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you'll love it as much as me. This one really takes the original idea and runs with it... to Oscar gold.

Brilliant

[medrjel · 9/10 · 10 February 2002]

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.

Capaldi's take on the Christmas classic

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 26 October 2015]

"Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life" is a 22-minute short film from 20 years ago that won an Academy Award (tied with another film) and BAFTA Award. The title gives away the action pretty much already. This is very much influenced by the black-and-white James Stewart Christmas classic mixed with a kafkaesque take and finally Peter Capaldi's unique take on comedy. If you have seen some of his works, such as "In the Loop", you will know what I mean. Capaldi is mostly an actor, so it's a bit strange that his greatest achievement in terms of awards comes for a film he wrote and directed. He is mostly known recently for playing Doctor Who, which elevated his popularity a lot again. Anyway, this work here did not really convince me. I did not find it a too interesting or memorable effort, even if the mix-up of these 2 characters was certainly an interesting idea. All in all, not recommended.

Clever cross-bred pastiche

[RayG · 9 September 2000]

As its name suggests, this short film cross-breeds Kafka with Capra. Kafka is pestered by neighbours, children, and the sinister Woland the Knifeman (who suspects Kakfa of killing his pet beetle). This is a delightful dark comedy pastiche, Richard E Grant performing at his nervy best in a sinister but ultimately heartwarming film.

A phenomenal flight of imagination on Kafka's creative process

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 9/10 · 19 August 2013]

Inventive and artistic, this beautiful flight of imagination is one of the greatest ideas ever composed and translated into a delightful cinematic experience. Matching together the creative genius of Franz Kafka with the positive outcomes of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" the short tells the difficult process of creating a novel, not in the sense of being something to be read but something to be felt and comprehended by readers of different generations, the greatest testament an artist can give to humanity. And believe it or not, one exact word can make a complete difference in a writing work. This strenuous mind exercise coming from a writer is the problematic basis for this amazing short film.

Peter Capaldi imagines the conception of the now famed masterpiece "The Metamorphosis" with Kafka (played by Richard E. Grant) having a terrible writer's block in the very first sentence, the classical "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect". But here, he doesn't know what Gregor is about to be transformed not only because of his block but that also relates with distractions around him, with his loud neighbors celebrating a Christmas party and interrupting visitors who appear from time to time. What he least expects is that those individuals and the strange situations they're involved may be of help for his book.

The mixture of elements, although strange and sometimes a little inadequate, is a good one. We have Kafka writing Gregor's story, then there's few glimpses of Gregor being transformed into multiple things before his final destination. Opressively, dramatic and spooky moments mixed with some strange humor, very characteristic in the works of the Polish writer. Later on the cheerful and bright conclusion borrowed from Capra's release comes along with a certain moral of the story that was a little off-suiting for this movie. It's one way of seeing things and it might work best with those who know little about the life and work of Franz Kafka, commonly known for sad and darker stories.

I only disagree with the treatment given to the main character played as if being a soft version of Ebenezer Scrooge, far from the timid and repressed view given of Kafka in biographies. But Mr. Grant was good, just as effective as the mysterious man played by Ken Stott. And it's good to know that it all paid off, this Burtonesque film was agraciated with the Oscar as Best Short - Live Action, tied with "Trevor" and one Bafta. And who could have imagined that the hilarious performer of Malcolm Tucker is not only a great actor but also a talented writer and director. This is a solid proof. 9/10

Really good, but for a very, very select audience

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 25 June 2009]

This film is for anyone who has actually read Kafka--and not just the CliffNotes! Because he is one of those "great and important authors" we hear about in literature, most likely very few people ever got around to actually reading his work. Plus, to make things worse, Kafka had a bad habit of dying and not finishing his stories! What nerve! So, if you have actually read Kafka, then this film is for you--others need not bother.

The film shows Richard E. Grant as Kafka and he's in the middle of writing "Metamorphosis"--the story of a guy who, believe it or not, wakes up to find himself a giant cockroach! This is the actual story--not something I am making up! However, in the film, Kafka has a terrible case of writer's block as he tries to work through the plot. He's to the point where the man wakes up and finds that he's become a.....and then SOMETHING interrupts! It's either neighbors in another flat partying loudly, a loud saleslady delivering something to the wrong apartment, a professional knife sharpener looking for his conscience ("Jimminy Cockroach") or bugs running about his apartment.

It's all a very well made absurdist sort of parody that will make you laugh if, and only if, you understand the jokes. A wonderful film for literature professors and lunatics like myself who have actually read Kafka--all others need not apply.

Kafka was a Torah Jew!

[gengar843 · 1/10 · 14 August 2015]

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.

He Could Have Been A Pair Of Ragged Claws.

[rmax304823 · 17 November 2011]

Franz Kafka sits alone in his room at his writing desk, trying in desperation to begin a story. He begins writing and reciting to himself, "Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find himself transformed into a gigantic --", and then he stops, stumped. "A gigantic WHAT?" Kafka's gaze drifts about the dismal room and light on a bowl of fruit. Cut to an imaginary scene of Gregor Samsa waking up, completely covered by a sheet, struggling to free himself, only to reveal a giant -- BANANA.

That's the opening scene, and to me it's the most shocking and amusing. You won't find much of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" in here. It seems to provide only a kind of spine or notochord because, after Kafka loses the thread of the narrative, along with some other things, and is ridden by guilt over having squashed the cockroach that inspired him, he's given Christmas presents from the girls downstairs, every present being a jar of insects, ranging from cockroaches to maggots. Christmas bells begin ringing and the camera glides to the window where it is snowing. Yes, it's a wonderful life after all. To prove it, the final shot is of Gregor Samsa, now a beetle, lying on his back in bed and avidly singing "Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee" -- the whole first verse.

I don't know exactly what to make of this 25-minute production. It had me wondering if someone had smoked one of those bananas we saw. It's rarely funny, mostly intense, and has a couple of absurd lines in it. "Is this a real conversation or an imaginary one?", asks the lady downstairs. We also get to meet a character who has a tiny beetle friend and seems to have lost it, until it's found again as one of the Christmas presents, recalling Thomas Mitchell and the missing money.

All in all, it's confusing but in a most innovative way, as if someone had dumped haphazardly into a cocktail shaker Franz Kafka, George Bailey, Monty Python, and stray limbs and membrae of Eugene Ionescu. After a violent agitation, this is what came out.

I don't think all that many people will laugh, but I don't think they'll be able to stop watching it either.