Product Details

• Actors: Richard E. Grant, Crispin Letts, Ken Stott, Elaine Collins, Phyllis Logan
• Directors: Peter Capaldi
• Writers: Peter Capaldi
• Producers: Colin Cameron, Mary Soan, Ruth Kenley-Letts
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Vanguard Cinema
• VHS Release Date: May 15, 2001
• Run Time: 23 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000IC5N
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #61,849 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Richard E. Grant presents Franz Kafka as a tortured artist of a different kind in the title offering of this collection of festival favorite shorts. Bent over a writing desk one Christmas searching for a suitable transformation for the protagonist of his new story "The Metamorphosis" (a banana?), Kafka's writer's block is compounded by a party, a saleswoman with a giant cockroach costume, and a shady knife salesman scurrily searching for "his little friend." In a thoroughly un-Kafkaesque twist, Franz discovers the true meaning of Christmas. Also included in the collection is The Deal, a big-business farce about two powerful businessmen who meet clandestinely to hatch a merger that will change the face of business as we know it and seal the deal with a dance and bit of mutual admiration at the size of one another's... assets. Seven Gates, a serio-comic look at two brothers who bicker, cajole, and face their anxieties on their way to a family Christmas gathering, is a wry and generally dead-on study in opposites. The final offering, the black-and-white drama Mr. McAllister's Cigarette Holder, is a gently meandering tale of love and pride that brings a poor hired hand and his wary albino girlfriend together and the symbolic sacrifice made to preserve their dignity. Each of the shorts displays a sure sense of cinema and a mixture of rich textures and brevity that marks the best short-story writing. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted Masterpieces, August 27, 2000

By	Regent St. Claire (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

Beautifully filmed fantasy about the night Kafka wrote his masterpiece (not too far from the idea used so successfully in "Insignificance"), infused with hallmarks of the classic "It's A Wonderful Life." Charming, smart, and bizarre, starring Richard E. Grant, "FKIAWL" won the Oscar in 1993 for Best Live Action Short. Brilliant!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying for about $15, November 3, 2003

By A Customer

The first film is corny, either skip over it or just watch without any high expectations. The other three are excellent concept films that actually have themes and deal with real issues as well.