Franz Kafka sits alone in his room at his writing desk, trying in desperation to begin a story. He begins writing and reciting to himself, "Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find himself transformed into a gigantic --", and then he stops, stumped. "A gigantic WHAT?" Kafka's gaze drifts about the dismal room and light on a bowl of fruit. Cut to an imaginary scene of Gregor Samsa waking up, completely covered by a sheet, struggling to free himself, only to reveal a giant -- BANANA.
That's the opening scene, and to me it's the most shocking and amusing. You won't find much of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" in here. It seems to provide only a kind of spine or notochord because, after Kafka loses the thread of the narrative, along with some other things, and is ridden by guilt over having squashed the cockroach that inspired him, he's given Christmas presents from the girls downstairs, every present being a jar of insects, ranging from cockroaches to maggots. Christmas bells begin ringing and the camera glides to the window where it is snowing. Yes, it's a wonderful life after all. To prove it, the final shot is of Gregor Samsa, now a beetle, lying on his back in bed and avidly singing "Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee" -- the whole first verse.
I don't know exactly what to make of this 25-minute production. It had me wondering if someone had smoked one of those bananas we saw. It's rarely funny, mostly intense, and has a couple of absurd lines in it. "Is this a real conversation or an imaginary one?", asks the lady downstairs. We also get to meet a character who has a tiny beetle friend and seems to have lost it, until it's found again as one of the Christmas presents, recalling Thomas Mitchell and the missing money.
All in all, it's confusing but in a most innovative way, as if someone had dumped haphazardly into a cocktail shaker Franz Kafka, George Bailey, Monty Python, and stray limbs and membrae of Eugene Ionescu. After a violent agitation, this is what came out.
I don't think all that many people will laugh, but I don't think they'll be able to stop watching it either.
That's the opening scene, and to me it's the most shocking and amusing. You won't find much of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" in here. It seems to provide only a kind of spine or notochord because, after Kafka loses the thread of the narrative, along with some other things, and is ridden by guilt over having squashed the cockroach that inspired him, he's given Christmas presents from the girls downstairs, every present being a jar of insects, ranging from cockroaches to maggots. Christmas bells begin ringing and the camera glides to the window where it is snowing. Yes, it's a wonderful life after all. To prove it, the final shot is of Gregor Samsa, now a beetle, lying on his back in bed and avidly singing "Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee" -- the whole first verse.
I don't know exactly what to make of this 25-minute production. It had me wondering if someone had smoked one of those bananas we saw. It's rarely funny, mostly intense, and has a couple of absurd lines in it. "Is this a real conversation or an imaginary one?", asks the lady downstairs. We also get to meet a character who has a tiny beetle friend and seems to have lost it, until it's found again as one of the Christmas presents, recalling Thomas Mitchell and the missing money.
All in all, it's confusing but in a most innovative way, as if someone had dumped haphazardly into a cocktail shaker Franz Kafka, George Bailey, Monty Python, and stray limbs and membrae of Eugene Ionescu. After a violent agitation, this is what came out.
I don't think all that many people will laugh, but I don't think they'll be able to stop watching it either.