If there’s one thing that’s direct about this labyrinthine existentialist mindbender from Norway-born, Amsterdam-based filmmaker Tallulah H Schwab, it’s the title – a clear reference to Franz Kafka and the writer’s frustrated protagonist from his final novel . In terms of exuberant absurdity, however, the film has at least as much in common with the work of Samuel Beckett. That’s thanks to its darkly comic air and Mr.
K himself (Crispin Glover) who, after checking into a hotel and discovering he can never leave, finds his sense of self being stripped away. It is a radical departure from Schwab’s previous film, coming-of-age drama . But – as with last year’s Charlie Kaufman-tinged from Niclas Larsson the gravity of the ensemble cast amidst all the surrealness helps.
That should stand the film in good stead as it plays in Busan’s Flash Forward strand after bowing in Toronto’s Platform. It has already sold in several territories and wider audiences are likely to fall in love with its endless invention, arresting visuals and the compelling central performance from Glover as his character tries to hold it together amid the chaos. Chaos is not something that Mr.
K is used to. A magician by trade, he is briefly seen performing on stage, controlling his own little universe of tiny spinning planets. He checks into a hotel in an unnamed place that, from the outside, is being slowly colonised by moss and plants.
It’s also the first indication of the intricately d.