Alec Guiness, Alec Guinness, Armin Mueller-Stahl

A paranoid thriller set in 1916 about the cover-up of the murder of one of Kafka's friends and colleagues by officials in a totalitarian state.

Flixster Users

74% liked it

922 ratings

Critics

60% liked it

20 critics

PG-13

Directed by: Stephen Soderbergh, Steven Soderbergh

Release Date: January 1, 1991

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Stats: 172 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (172)


  • September 22, 2008
    Interesting. Ballsy move making Kafka the hero in a Kafka-esque adventure.
  • September 24, 2006
    Beautiful to look at but ever so slight.
  • September 13, 2006
    Creepy and atmospheric piece of cinema.
  • March 20, 2008
    Under appreciated Soderbergh gem.
  • July 15, 2009
    Highly enjoyable, despite many less then positive reviews. I have a soft spot I think for Jeremy Irons but I also really enjoyed the use of black and white as well as the general feel of the film.
  • January 6, 2009
    hmmm... u can try a shoot. but depends from your mood...
  • January 2, 2009
    who dont like to see an illustration of a KAFKAism life... i do love him and defenitly i like this dark movie... beside id rather to see a movie based on his metamorph story, n i would be so pleased if anyone tell me that if there is any movie on this...
  • October 31, 2008
    OHHH I really want to see this.
  • September 15, 2008
    Not one of Soderbergh's great movies.
  • July 21, 2008
    It looked good and all that, and at times it seemed like everyone involved knew and understood something of Kafka's life and works...but at other times it so spectucularly mis-captures Kafka's ideas it's mind boggling.

    The screaming laughing chasi...(read more) ng-guy with th...( read more)e Roger Corman shit on his face, was ri-god-damn-diculous, and I couldnt help laughing every time this guys on screen.
    Jeremy Irons brings some nervous charm to the role and at the very, very, end does look eeiriely like Kafka, and Sodergberg's direction is decent (not amazing)...a little above average at it's best moments.

    The story of individuality vs. control, is a very, very simplistic look at Kafka's writing, and in this film specifically a really, really, bad sci-fi cliche, that most saturday mourning cartoons don't even use anymore.

    I wanted to like this cus, I like Steven Soderberg, I like Franz Kafka, and I don't mind Jeremy Irons, but all together, at once, it's just don't add up to a hill of beans. It aspires to Naked Lunch levels of mixing, fiction and fact, but it doesn't feel like this movie had a clear sense of either. Dissapointing.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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

View more Kafka reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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