Main Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins, Jason Robards, Jr., Jean Stapleton, Polly Walker
Release Year: 1993
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 108 minutes
Plot
Franz Kafka's classic tale of Josef K., a bank clerk who is placed on trial for an unnamed, unknowable crime, is given a faithful, if not overly literal, treatment in this drama. Knowing only that he has been charged, Josef naturally sets out to defend himself, but soon finds himself deeply mired in a battle against an incomprehensible government bureaucracy. Following Orson Welles's adaptation of the book by some three decades, director David Jones chooses to avoid the earlier film's expressionistic approach. Instead, he sets Josef's travails against a realistic background that specifically recalls Eastern Europe during the early 20th century, the time of the book's writing. Similarly, the screenplay by famed British playwright Harold Pinter, whose own darkly absurd vision owes much to Kafka, hews closely to the original text. This faithful approach helps ground the story in historical reality, and allows for a good use of brooding Prague locations. However, many critics have found this approach less effective than the low-budget abstraction of Welles' version, which is more successful at highlighting the universality and symbolic nature of the tale. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Alfred Molina - Titorelli; Juliet Stevenson - Fraulein Burstner; Michael Kitchen - Block; Patrick Godfrey - Court Usher; Paul Brooke - Deputy Bank Manager; Harry Burton - K's assistant; Anthony Haygarth - Willem; Douglas Hodge - Inspector; Robert Lang - K's Uncle; Leon Lissek - Stairman; Roger Lloyd Pack - Stairman; Trevor Peacock - Examining Magistrate; David Schneider - Kullich; David Thewlis - Franz; Andrew Tiernan - Berthold; John Woodvine - Herr Deimen; Karel Augusta - Executioner; Jiri Schmitzer - Thin Defendant; Petr Skarke - Man in the Window; Ondrej Vetchý - Kaminer; Petr Drozda - Executioner; Don Henderson - Flogger
Credit
Jiri Matolin - Art Director, Jim Holloway - Art Director, Carolyn Montagu - Associate Producer, Ann Wingate - Associate Producer, Anushia Nieradzik - Costume Designer, Jake Wright - First Assistant Director, David Jones - Director, John Stothart - Editor, Mark Shivas - Executive Producer, Kobi Jaeger - Executive Producer, Carl Davis - Composer (Music Score), Don Taylor - Production Designer, Phil Meheux - Cinematographer, Louis Marks - Producer, John Bush - Set Designer, Harold Pinter - Screenwriter, Franz Kafka - Book Author
Metamorphosis (Germany 1975) ·Metamorphosis (Sweden 1976) ·The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Canada 1977) ·Metamorphosis (UK 1987) ·Franz Kafka (Poland 1992) ·Description of a Struggle (USA 1993) ·Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (UK 1993) ·Zoetrope (from "In the Penal Colony"; USA 2000) ·The Hunger Artist (USA 2002) ·Metamorphosis (Russia 2002) ·Human Body (from "A Country Doctor"; Germany 2004) Kafka goes to the Forest(Brazil 2009) ·
Apart From That ·Applicant ·The Black and White ·Dialogue for Three · "God's District" ·Interview ·Last to Go ·The New World Order ·Night ·Precisely ·Press Conference ·Request Stop, Special Offer ·That's All ·That's Your Trouble ·Trouble in the Works
