Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Manthast Absolutely amazing

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life" is a 22-minute short film from 20 years ago that won an Academy Award (tied with another film) and BAFTA Award. The title gives away the action pretty much already. This is very much influenced by the black-and-white James Stewart Christmas classic mixed with a kafkaesque take and finally Peter Capaldi's unique take on comedy. If you have seen some of his works, such as "In the Loop", you will know what I mean. Capaldi is mostly an actor, so it's a bit strange that his greatest achievement in terms of awards comes for a film he wrote and directed. He is mostly known recently for playing Doctor Who, which elevated his popularity a lot again. Anyway, this work here did not really convince me. I did not find it a too interesting or memorable effort, even if the mix-up of these 2 characters was certainly an interesting idea. All in all, not recommended.

Prismark10 Written and directed by Peter Capaldi, better known as an actor but had aspiration to be a writer and directorThis short film (jointly) won an Oscar for the best short film category.Richard E Grant takes the title role as Franz Kafka trying to write the opening line of 'Metamorphosis' in his dark room whilst being disturbed by strange and sinister people. Grant who has in the past given uneven acting performances gives an inspired acting display.The black and white film is of course surreal and comic, almost Pythonesque. As the tile of the film implies it splices Kafka with Frank Capra!

John Rackham A slip of the tongue by actor Peter Capaldi's wife inspired him to write and make this Oscar winning gem. Richard E. Grant gives wonderful performance as the tortured Franz Kafka who struggles with the opening line of 'Metamorphosis' amid the distractions of his dark and sinister rooming house. Disturbances include a girls party, a lady trying to deliver a giant insect costume' and a psychotic knife sharpener, (another marvellous performance by Ken Stott),who has lost his little friend.The black and white cutaway sequences showing his various inspirations for Gregor transformations are hilarious. The final scene, where the story strands are tied up and all the characters brought together in a twisted version of the finale of 'It's a Wonderful Life' is funny and moving at the same time.The perfect Christmas film for the slightly odd.

DFWcrtic A fascinating and unique film from the BBC which received much critical buzz in England, though relatively little attention stateside. 'Tis a pity, as the colonists would get a kick out of it.