---
title: "Kafka: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/kafka/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/kafka"
critics_score: 51
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kafka (1991): what the critics said

Critics' score 51 from 7 reviews: 3 positive, 1 mixed, 3 negative.

The reviews split almost down the middle, and the split runs along a line of time. The American critics who saw it on release are cold. The New York Times calls the screenplay a mess while conceding Soderbergh’s direction is sound; the Los Angeles Times finds everything of interest on the surface and the plot beneath it trivial; Roger Ebert thinks a gifted director has chosen the wrong subject. Variety agrees the portrait of the artist is shallow and the story too conventional. Later British reviews are warmer. Empire, Time Out and Eye for Film all treat it as an entertaining, exaggerated mystery that borrows from Kafka’s fiction rather than a failed biopic, with Eye for Film singling out Jeremy Irons. Nearly everyone praises the look of the film and the staging. The reservations cluster on the script, a slow opening half hour, and whether the whole thing has anything to say about its subject.

## Empire — Kim Newman

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

The critic finds it surprisingly strong despite its reputation as a pretentious failure, praising its exaggerated, entertaining horror-movie take on Kafkaesque themes over a literal biopic.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/kafka-review/)

## Time Out — TCh

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 4 April 2012. 

The film is an intriguing, idiosyncratic and often highly entertaining biopic that conflates elements of the author's life and writings into a fiction much bigger than life. It works as a genuinely eye-catching mystery thriller despite a sluggish first half hour and some misjudged absurdist comedy.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/kafka)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 45/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1990. 

The story feels too conventional and the portrait of the artist too shallow; despite strong visuals and staging, the film is finally too normal.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/kafka-1200428864/)

## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 7 February 1992. 

Soderbergh reveals a gothic stylist but the project does not suit Kafka as subject or character. The director is gifted but unwise in his choice.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/kafka-1992)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 1991. 

A beautiful, confusing letdown with everything of interest in the gorgeous surface while the plot proves trivial and cheesy.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-04-ca-50-story.html)

## The New York Times — Vincent Canby

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 1991. 

A very bad well-directed movie whose screenplay is a mess but whose handling by Soderbergh is not bad at all.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/04/movies/review-film-jeremy-irons-as-the-writer-with-a-day-job.html)

## Eye for Film — Niall McCallum

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 11 October 2011. 

The critic finds the film an entertaining, visually striking blend of Kafka's life and fiction that is less intense than Welles' The Trial but more immediately enjoyable, with strong performances especially from Jeremy Irons.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/kafka-film-review-by-niall-mccallum)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/kafka.md