MAINSTREAM, HA!: KAFKA, LIEBESTRAUM, NAKED LUNCH
There's usually a pattern to the career trajectory of the Hollywood director. They start out with some small films until one of them becomes a breakout hit, and they follow that with moving more into the mainstream, with even bigger movies. But every so often, you run into a director who, after either a mainstream hit or an indie hit, will take on a risky project that threatens to throw away all the goodwill they might have engendered with their hit film. Sometimes the risk pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Three such movies came out in 1991: Steven Soderbergh's KAFKA, Mike Figgis' LIEBESTRAUM, and David Cronenberg's NAKED LUNCH. By coincidence, all three films are about writers.
Soderbergh broke through in 1989 with SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE, which won the Golden Palm at that year's Cannes Film Festival, became an indie hit and critical favorite here, and was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. He apparently felt trapped by that success, however, for he went from a serious study of sexuality to a pastiche about one of most celebrated writers of our time. What Soderbergh and writer Lem Dobbs have come up with is, to put it mildly, odd, but it's entertaining at least.
Set in 1919, it takes Kafka (Jeremy Irons) as its hero. He works for a large insurance company, as he apparently did in real life. And, of course, he writes in his spare time (he makes reference to his famous story "Metamorphisis"). His boss (Sir Alec Guinness) approves of his work in the office, but he and his superiors feel Kafka should have a life outside the office. Kafka inadvertently gets that and more when he discovers a friend and co-worker is missing. Apparently, his friend belonged to an anarchist group with his girlfriend Gabriela (Theresa Russell). The anarchist group wants Kafka to go after the company he works for, since it's run by a group in a castle that's apparently doing nasty things. Meanwhile, the police, led by Grubach (Armin Mueller-Stahl), want Kafka to inform on the group. And when Kafka finally visits the castle, he discovers Dr. Murnau (Ian Holm) performing some rash experiments.
Probably what turned a lot of people off to this movie is this is a hodgepodge of Kafka's work, and if you're not familiar with it (in addition to "Metamorphisis," there's a bit of THE TRIAL and, of course, THE CASTLE), you'll be lost. And even if you are familiar with it, you may wonder why Soderbergh and Dobbs seem to be treating the whole thing as a joke. You may wonder even more when you realize Soderbergh is throwing in stylistic nods to the early German directors, like Fritz Lang and, of course, F.W. Murnau. Among other touches, there's also the fact that most of the movie is in black-and-white, except for the castle sequence, which is in color.
Latest Articles