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Kafka (1991)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 9

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 3.1/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 5

No consensus yet.

audience

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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 4,707

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Movie Info

Steve Soderbergh did a 180 degree turnaround from his debut film sex, lies, and videotape with Kafka, a stark art-film fable for literature majors. Jeremy Irons plays a fictional Franz Kafka, living in Prague in 1919. By day, Kafka works in a massive, impersonal insurance company. At night, he spends his time alone writing stories about men who turn into giant cockroaches. Although quiet and solitary, he becomes a suspect in a murder investigation conducted by Inspector Grubach (Armin

PG-13, 1 hr. 45 min.

Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Stephen Soderbergh , Steven Soderbergh

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1991 Wide

On DVD: Dec 22, 1992

Paramount Home Video

Kafka Trailer & Photos

Cast

Jeremy Irons
Kafka
Theresa Russell
Gabriela
Joel Grey
Burgel
Ian Holm
Dr. Murnau
Jeroen Krabb�
Bizzlebek
Alec Guinness
The Chief Clerk
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Inspector Grubach
Keith Allen
Assistant Ludwig
Simon McBurney
Assistant Oscar
Robert Flemyng
The Keeper of the Flies
Toon Agterberg
Youthful Anarchist
Karel Belohradsky
Inspector's Assistant
Vitezsalv Bouchner
Lens Cleaner
Ion Caramitru
Solemn Anarchist
Guy Fithen
Friend of Kafka
Jerome Flynn
Castle Attendant
Brian Glover
Castle Henchman
Vladimir Gut
Edward
Zuzana Halustokov
Friend of Kafka
Ondrej Havelka
Friend of Kafka
Petr Jakl
Quarry Laborer
Dave Jensen
The Laughing Man
Lenka Korinkova
Friend of Kafka
Robert Krejcik
Evil Wagon Driver
Petr Lepsa
Friend of Kafka
James McPhee
Castle Attendant
Maria Miles
Anna
Pavel Myslik
Vagrant
Jan Nemejovsky
Mustachioed Anarchist
David Shaw Parker
Interrogating Attendant
Lubos Rychvalsky
Kidnapped Vagrant
Josef Sebek
Inspector's Assistant
Leon Silver
Friend of Kafka
Jan Slov�k
Man at Bar
Ewan Stewart
Castle Attendant
Frantisek Stufka
Vagrant
Hilde Van Mieghem
Female Anarchist
Debora Weston
Friend of Kafka
Emil Wolk
Man Under Microscope
Matyelok Gibbs
Concierge
Josef Abrh�m
Friend of Kafka
Alec Guiness

Critic Reviews for Kafka

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (9) | DVD (1)

Steven Soderbergh's Kafka is a very bad well-directed movie.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

Soderbergh does demonstrate again here that he's a gifted director, however unwise in his choice of project.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

A movie about Franz Kafka? It's a good idea for a microsecond. Then it dissolves into a dumb proposition.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment (1)

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

The effect is artistic, but it's also obvious when the material cried out for unsettling.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Rita Kempley

Washington Post

Top Critic

All the Kafka basics are there for the literary types to muse over and it has great entertainment value in its unpretentious playfulness.

April 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Soderbergh's sophomore jinx, a pastiche of styles (noir, German Expressionism) and themes (creativity, personal and political oppression) at the center of which is the vastly miscast Jeremy Irons as the Jewish writer involved in a senseless murder mystery

January 29, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

the film has a shallow, sophomoric earnestness

June 10, 2005 Comment

Douglas Pratt

DVDLaser

Incomprehensible but interesting.

January 5, 2004 Comment

Mark Robison

Reno Gazette-Journal Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

One of Soderbergh's most fascinating films.

November 5, 2003 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Overwrought over long and over indulgent

August 30, 2002 Comment

Michael Szymanski

Zap2it.com

Lem Dobb's script doesn't rely on comprehension or linearity, but the whole scope of the project has its compelling root.

October 9, 2001 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comment

Greg Muskewitz

eFilmCritic.com

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Kafka

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Beautiful to look at but ever so slight.

September 24, 2006

Steve K

Super Reviewer

Moody, mysterious, and measured thriller shot in beautiful black & white except for a pivotal sequence inside "the Castle." Soderbergh's best film is quite unlike any other in dropping Jeremy Irons, utterly convincing as Franz Kafka circa 1919 Prague, amidst a very Kafkaesque series of encounters. The insurance

February 10, 2010

Doctor Strangeblog

Super Reviewer

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