Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Die Verwandlung" or "Metamorphosis" is a West German German-language film from 1975 and the writer and director here is Czech filmmaker Jan Nemec. This film had its 40th anniversary last year and it runs for 52 minutes (only). The story Nemec adapted here is by Prague-born writer Franz Kafka and it was used on several occasions in film, also for example by Oscar nominee Caroline Leaf who made an animated short film based on it. it is the tale of a man who realizes one day that he has turned into a gigantic insect, thus the title. After initial fear from his family members, they manage to cope and deal with the new situation as well as they can. Except the female lead actress, the cast here are predominantly Germans (English and Austrian also occasionally) and this is also why it is a German-language film. Cast member Tamara Kafka is certainly related to Franz.For my personal liking, the story was just too absurd and not even the inclusion of very established actors like Heinz Bennent can make up for this. The acting and the way the characters are written is frequently over the top and I just could not appreciate the outcome here. I believe this is really only worth checking out if you really love Kafka's base material. I am sure that if I read it, I also would not appreciate it. So yeah my final verdict for this one is thumbs-down and I am glad it was actually this short. I recommend you to watch something else instead or maybe check out Leaf's take on the story first and you will know if the subject is interesting enough for you to sit through it for over 50 minutes. For me, it is definitely a nay.

Rodrigo Amaro Gregor Samsa's worst nightmare of all is transformed into a fairly faithful film adaptation on the hands of Jan Nemec in this good TV movie. Kafka's notorious "The Metamorphosis" is known by everybody, readers and non readers so I won't even bother detailing the story, cause the movie follow such quite rigidly, with some minor alternatives - or at least I think there were some changes, specially towards the conclusion, partly because I've read the book a long time ago and I don't remember the follow-up after Samsa's fate. What I loved about "Die Verwandlung": Gregor Samsa is never seen. Ever. Neither as human, neither as an insect - we have to imagine how he looks like; however, the story is viewed through his optic, brilliantly captured by a cinematography filming in unusual angles or with the members of Samsa family breaking the fourth wall as if we in the audience were transformed into Gregor-turned into insect. Samsa's challenge is thrown back at us. And the humor! Yes, Kafka's humor, commonly referenced by many specialists as one of his strongest points, even though his stories were eternally depressing, chaotic, nightmarish and kafkaesque so to say, but there's always hints of humor in it (for those with eyes and minds to see...); anyway, that humor is very evident. It's all desperation to the main character but there's room for laughter when the new tenants pop in the Samsa's family residence. Mannerisms, situations and a lot awkwardness is presented, all collected in slightly delightful sequences that makes us see the fun in such an absurd scenario.So, if you're lazy in terms of reading, this can be a little helpful in understanding what the classic is all about BUT it's no replacement for the wonderful book since it can't fully represent the countless deep interpretations on what the metamorphosis actually symbolizes (there's many valid theories, mine reflects on political/sexual issues). Well acted and very short, a harmless adaptation, my favorite so far. 7/10