The influential works of Franz Kafka are transformed into a peculiar and expressive short film on the hands of Lorenza Mazzetti, which combines
her own essence and vision along with the bleakness and absurdity from the author's words and universe.
It's a marvelous composition of black-and-white and grey (as I imagine his novels and settings being, even when he describes different colors), very oppressive and with a bizarre use of mismatched sounds, almost silent and with little dialogue. It's quite close to the silent era films (at times resembling Dziga Vertov) and I really wanted it to be like those as the power of her images are so great that you don't need music or words.
While the title makes an allusion with Josef K. From "The Trial", the essence of this story comes from "The Metamorphosis" and while this troubled Gregor Samsa (Michael Andrews, very impressive and expressive) doesn't physically change into an insect you can imagine him as being one, just as the one described by Kafka. It may look a little confusing as the film isn't so clear about a certain transition of events, the distinction of past and present as if Samsa is recollecing some past events or he if can change between the family man who can't walk at home but keeps bothering his boss at work, following everywhere in a dynamic that it's also confusing as his dialogues shifts from selling works for his boss but also telling how good worker he is (unless if we imagine the same actor playing a dual role at the very same moment. Experimental films can go like this too).
The film is not a clear adaptation from the book (neither wants to be). Yet "K" is a fair and faithful look through the looking glass of the surreal kafkaesque universe, how the author viewed life and psychological/social relations. It's a little abstract at parts but it works, just as the absurdity of the man's words and the chaotic nature of the world. 8/10.
It's a marvelous composition of black-and-white and grey (as I imagine his novels and settings being, even when he describes different colors), very oppressive and with a bizarre use of mismatched sounds, almost silent and with little dialogue. It's quite close to the silent era films (at times resembling Dziga Vertov) and I really wanted it to be like those as the power of her images are so great that you don't need music or words.
While the title makes an allusion with Josef K. From "The Trial", the essence of this story comes from "The Metamorphosis" and while this troubled Gregor Samsa (Michael Andrews, very impressive and expressive) doesn't physically change into an insect you can imagine him as being one, just as the one described by Kafka. It may look a little confusing as the film isn't so clear about a certain transition of events, the distinction of past and present as if Samsa is recollecing some past events or he if can change between the family man who can't walk at home but keeps bothering his boss at work, following everywhere in a dynamic that it's also confusing as his dialogues shifts from selling works for his boss but also telling how good worker he is (unless if we imagine the same actor playing a dual role at the very same moment. Experimental films can go like this too).
The film is not a clear adaptation from the book (neither wants to be). Yet "K" is a fair and faithful look through the looking glass of the surreal kafkaesque universe, how the author viewed life and psychological/social relations. It's a little abstract at parts but it works, just as the absurdity of the man's words and the chaotic nature of the world. 8/10.
