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FRANZ KAFKA'S

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful LifeFRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - 1993
by Peter Capaldi

It's in color, but also black and white. A writer is trying to decide how to write a book. There's a man who becomes a banana, a rabbit, and a spider.


FRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
a movie by Peter Capaldi

Except for the rabbit and the spider (the man turns into a cockroach at one point), you may be talking about the 1993 short movie, FRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Peter Capaldi's brilliant dark comedy delves deep into the weirdness of Franz Kafka's epic short story, THE METAMORPHOSIS. He pulls rich humor out of it all without sneering at the tale, and puts a bonafide IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE spin on the whole thing without descending into maudlin territory.

This is a rare movie that, like Kafka's story and Frank Capra's Christmas classic, grows more enjoyable with repeated viewings. The whole thing is fantastically enabled by actor Richard E. Grant, as Franz Kafka, and the expressive face of actor Crispin Letts, as the much put upon Gregor Samsa.

Not a low budget short film, part of the reason for its overall excellence is the experience of all concerned. The Special Effects Artist was Richard Conway (FLASH GORDON, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, MONTY PYTHON'S THE MEANING OF LIFE, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, BRAZIL, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS [1986], Kenneth Branaugh's FRANKENSTEIN).

Two years after its initial release, FRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, won an Oscar for best short film.

As of 2013, you may know Writer and Director Peter Capaldi is also an actor and is the new DOCTOR WHO. Also, if you saw the Brad Pitt zombie movie, WORLD WAR Z, you got to see Peter Capaldi as the Doctor from the World Health Organization.* Ahem!

FRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE Wikipedia page.

Also check out, BBCAmerica, Open Culture, A.V. Club: Peter Capaldi interview,

*In fact, the entire short is filled with subtle DOCTOR WHO connections not only to past episodes, but to events in episodes that didn't exist when it was made. It's like someone had a time machine - or something.

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Page Copyright 2014 E.C.McMullen Jr.

Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1995) on IMDb
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