Another
PC writer/director double-whammy. Like
with Strictly Sinatra, he’s not in
it, and like with Soft Top Hard Shoulder,
it’s kind of bonkers and wonderful. But
that’s not the important part. Did you
know that PC is the first Academy Award
winner to play the Doctor? This
quirky brainchild earned PC the Oscar for best live-action short in 1995.
Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life is a simple tale in
its own, crazed way. Everyone’s favorite
lonely German from Prague is holed up in his spartan flat, laboring over the
first sentence of Metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a
gigantic something, but Kafka doesn’t
know what, and he entertains possibilities between the constant interruptions
that eventually lead him to his cockroachian eureka.
As far
as writing goes, this short is more blatantly absurdist than the previous
PC-penned films I’ve seen. It has a
dream-like detachment to it, a madcap careen from odd interlude to odd
interlude. Not as many out-and-out jokes
as Soft Top Hard Shoulder, but the
writing is still sharp and quick-witted, more in the plotting than the
dialogue.
The
film is directed with a disorienting mix of melancholy and frenzy that fits the
story’s atmosphere. Rapid-fire fantasy
sequences sprint through the narrative without fanfare, knocking you off-kilter
in that unique way we call Kafkaesque.
Additionally, the production design is nicely constructed; everything
has a handmade look to it that puts you in mind of a spookish Michel Gondry.
For
performances, we have several people who’ve appeared in other projects PC’s
written/directed. Richard E. Grant, our
Kafka, cameoed in Strictly Sinatra;
he was also Dr. Simeon on Who last
season, but personally, I remember him best as Jack Seward in the Gary Oldman
version of Dracula. PC’s wife Elaine Collins, last seen starring
in Soft Top Hard Shoulder, appears
again, as does Phyllis Logan (side note, since the new series of Downton Abbey just started on
Masterpiece – Mrs. Hughes will always rock.)
Recommend?
In
General
– I think so. It’s a little like early
Jeunet stuff, and I like the highly-stylized premise of the author trying to
begin his most famous work.
PC-wise – Definitely. Good display of PC’s writing and directing
talents, and come on – the guy has an Oscar! Shouldn’t pass this one up.
Warnings
A hint
of menace, and a scene of insect carnage.
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