Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

bkoganbing I think filming Franz Kafka is probably more difficult than filming Ernest Hemingway. Getting all the meaning out of Hemingway's sparse prose has certainly been a challenge. But with Kafka and The Trial, how do you film inside a man's mind in an unnamed existential world?Well Orson Welles certainly gave it a try. The first time I watched The Trial I started a few times and gave up. I was determined to see it through and did this time. I did see it through and came away still not sure of what I saw.Anthony Perkins is the protagonist Jozef K. He's a nameless toiler in what Kafka correctly sees as a future age of information. Had the film been done today you would see Perkins as a nameless drone chained to a computer. But he's done something that has whatever authority there is most upset. He's under arrest though for a moment free on some futuristic version of bail on an unnamed charge.Civil liberties have certainly gone out the window. Kafka was not writing about an Anglo-Saxon society where one's innocent until proved guilty. Guilty as charged with little or no chance of proving yourself innocent.I'm not sure Welles had any fixed notions about filming this in the way he firmly knew his mind with his other and better films. He was experimenting here with some stream of consciousness type technique and I think he was attempting the impossible. He wrote some interesting vignettes for people Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, and Akim Tamiroff who offer varying degrees of sympathy for Perkins's plight, but all can really do nothing.The Trial is an interesting experiment, but it doesn't make it in my book.

liam_prendergast Its hard to compose a hard hitting film when so much media is out there challenging and criticising contemporary power structures. Orson Welles' film communicates the feeling of ambiguous persecution which is the product of state surveillance. He doesn't understand the reason for his trial because there is no viable reason other than the legality of it. If what we do is simply governed by laws and legal code then human moral code becomes useless; human moral code has broken down and K sees that the other accused citizens have become 'nothing more than dogs' to the system. In the same way that we are today obedient to authority and lack the ability to liberate ourselves from structures of control K conforms to the will of the authority due to a vague threat of violence."No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks." Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, article 12.You as a citizen of the western media empire are likely the victim of authority and systems of control. Systems that worm their way into your psyche and cause you to self regulate and become demoralised. The victims of a surveillance aesthetic mentality, many subsist under fear of the chimera of surveillance organisations and corporate-government control.Don't believe me, look a little deeper down the rabbit hole: https://wikileaks.org/"You may object that it is not a trial at all; you are quite right, for it is only a trial if I recognise it as such. But for the moment I do recognise it, on grounds of compassion, as it were. One can't regard it except with compassion, if one is to regard it at all. I do not say that your procedure is contemptible, but I should like to present that epithet to you for your private consumption." (The Trial, Kafka)

braddugg The logic of this film is the logic of a dream.It's surreal, complicated and does give very less breathing space to contemplate what has happened. Made by a film aficionado for film aficionados, this is a highly intellectual interpretation of what Franz Kafka wrote. There are reasons why only Orson Welles could attempt this, without any compromise. Also, only why he could understand it and interpret it the way he did. Orson Welles perhaps, has many similarities with Kafka. From being eccentric and extremely passionate about his art to having a similar surreal psyche that is left for the interpretation of the audience than being spoon-fed. From the cast to the settings, to the humongous number of extras used, this film has a grandeur which can also be stated as grandeur of delusions. A door opens another one and we do not know if all that was happening was real or a mere illusion. Such is the script that it never made me wake up from the times I watched it. I watched it thrice and will watch it many times more. There is so much happening and so much has been said that it took me time to even get a grasp of it. I must admit I read the book only after watching this film. I watched it thrice till date. The first time, it shook me. Second time, it gave me some insights. Third time, I was awestruck as I got to understand a few details deeply. Perhaps, this is still not right for me to review this film coz there are many more things that I ought to know in the process of understanding this film. Kafka is probably one of the most complicated writers of 19th century. While other writers used lot of verbiage to elucidate the details, Kafka used less words and said so much more. The translators of Kafka's works should be hugely applauded for they would have gone through a lot of pain in getting us the right meaning and in the appropriate context. Getting back to the film, this has great set pieces and Orson Welles proves yet again that why is grandeur a must to show a film in a certain way. It adds intrigue, mystique and a certain sense of being there. The scene where K escapes from the the painter and the way it has been shot, is just magnificent. Welles knows how to use camera, art design, and the setup the sets with the shots in mind meticulously.Hey, is this a movie review? I really doubt coz after reading, I felt like I reviewed Kafka and Orson Welles more than the movie "The Trial" itself. Nevertheless, I can simply say it is one of the most profound surreal films that will be ever made.A 5/5 for one of the finest films by a master director.http://braddugg.blogspot.in/search/label/Movie%20Review

meritcoba "Nowadays you can hardly say anything against Orson Welles without invoking scorn and ridicule," Kristl mused."You were going to?""Not on purpose, but I feel a bit apprehensive about it. I mean you have a certain amount of leeway towards almost any other director, except for Welles.. You have to say he was a great guy..""Pff.." Henry said."Yeah.""You do not have to, with me," Henry said."Thanks.""So, I think it is an old boring slow moving that is a bit confusing, to say the least," Henry said."You think so?""I mean, black and white in 1962," Henry said."Uh, well..is that such a big thing?""Yeah.. and no action.""Okay..I feel compelled to come to the defense of this movie."Henry smiled, but he hid his smile behind his hand and pretended to take sip from his tea, "Hot," he remarked."Regardless of anything it's at least a decent film, although it seems to be all over the place," Kristl said."It looks like someone pasted a lot of 'scenes' together without much sense and pawned it off as a coherent movie," Henry said."Really?""Yeah.""It seems to be quite true to the book.. which means that any coherence in the movie, or any incoherence for that matter, must stem from the book," Kristl said."Then the books must be a bit of a confusing mess," Henry said. "Maybe, but I liked the movie, you know. It was surreal, strange and unsettling. Which seems appropriate to me..""Right.""For the Kafka story that is.""Oh, did you read it by the way?""No," Kristl shook her head."Me neither.""I think that goes for most of the audience," Kristl said."Yeah. So how you know it is fitting?""Well, other people say so that it is. Except for the ending. Which was thought off by Orson Welles. He felt it to be more appropriate. It seem to have to do with the holocaust. I am not quite sure. Seems more that the end is fitting to a cold war.""Yeah. But anyway, too old a movie for me really," Henry said."I think it's a good movie, but not astounding. Perkins is such a dubious choice. At times he is really excellent, but at other times he seems to be a poor choice. He has these wild mood swings. He constantly hovers between assertive and dejected. It's just odd how he swings from one attitude to the opposite.""Heh.""And there seems to be no development in his character. He just seems to go from one mood to the other depending on what is fitting for the scene at the moment. So there seems to be no humanit that drives him, just like: in this scene he should be angry and in this scene he should be desperate.""Ah.""It is just a bit to fabricated. A very nice fabrication, but a fabrication nevertheless.""Like most movies.""Yup. Did you know someone made a sequel to the trial?""Yes I did. Will Eisner made one called the Appeal. In it justice is done.""Oh you know..""Hey it's a comic. It was Eisner responding to Kafka. While Kafka painted a surreal world in which a man was the victim of soulless bureaucracy, Eisner seems to say that in a democratic society 'they' would not get away with it in the end.""Maybe someone should make a movie about that?" Henry said."Maybe someone will."www.meritcoba.com