The Trial

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Neil B @Filmrat Mar 27 The making of any film that is based on a seminal literary work is always an homage. Welles creates a beautiful and faithful work of art in this respect, successfully portraying a dense, slow, human bureaucracy that robs fearful citizens of time and life. Production, soundtrack, and a dynamic visual breadth combine to make the film a wonderful viewing experience. Anthony Perkins is excellent, as Mr K, who can pivot from laughter to anger in a moment without a ripple. Welles direction, and performance, are also outstanding, as are the sets and the vast magnitude of the "landscape". Whilst Welle's advocate character dominates he does not erase the desperation of others in this dirty world. The entire cast are charged with playing awkward characters in odd situations (as per the Kafka text) and they do this exceedingly well, enhanced by odd, and inventive camera work, alongside the striking and bold use of shadow and light. A must see for all film fans. See more Mason M @RT73597940 06/10/2025 I'll say that this was the first film I've seen from Orson Welles. Even though I'm not the most familiar with the films he's directed, I enjoyed The Trial. Welles's directing in this film was great, and it's very clear that he has a great visual eye for filmmaking. The cinematography in this film was great and the set pieces might be some of the best sets I've ever seen in a film. Anthony Perkins also gives what I'd say is probably his best performance. I really liked how Welles portrayed Kafka's absurdity and paranoia throughout the film. Though I'm not giving this a higher rating because it never quite clicked for me. It doesn't really feel like this film actually has very much to say and there wasn't any deeper meaning for me to grab onto. But despite that, I thought The Trial was a great film that did a great job at what it was trying to do. See more Merick H @RT59327164 05/22/2025 Starts off well -- visually striking and thought provoking -- but it begins to meander and quickly becomes an incredible bore. As a whole, it stinks. See more Alec B @Alec97 03/05/2025 Welles stages this beautifully and despite the fact that it's a Kafka adaptation, the movie feels totally accessible while not betraying the source material. See more Hugh J @RT93907031 12/08/2024 Although slow at times Orson Welles does well enough to bring Kafka's most arguably real dystopian novel to the silver screen. He took an appropriate amount of liberties to make the movie his own while staying true to the source material to make a great adaptation. See more Camero W @RT71510397 11/08/2024 It was kinda hard to watch at certain points because I thought it would never end like a nightmare. The acting was spot on. Shots were crazy. The way that the film made things look very large and very small reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Great film. Not for the faint of heart or people with short attention spans. See more Read all reviews

The Trial

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