Mr. K
Crispin Glover finds himself trapped in the hotel from hell in this Kafkaesque surrealist comedy.
If there’s one thing that’s direct about this labyrinthine existentialist mindbender from Norway-born, Amsterdam-based filmmaker Tallulah H Schwab, it’s the title – a clear reference to Franz Kafka and the writer’s frustrated protagonist from his final novel "The Castle". In terms of exuberant absurdity, however, the film has at least as much in common with the work of Samuel Beckett. That’s thanks to its darkly comic air and Mr. K himself (Crispin Glover) who, after checking into a hotel and discovering he can never leave, finds his sense of self being stripped away. Perhaps not a film for those who look for neat plots and easy answers, here the questions spin like planets – but, as one character puts it, “The trick is to recognise what’s important.”
Amber Wilkinson, Screen International
Tallulah R. Schwab (1973) was born in Oslo, Norway. She graduated from the Dutch Film Academy in 1996 as a film editor and as a writer and director of feature films. She has been working in the industry for almost twenty years and is best known for her short film “Driving Test” (2005), the short film “De Eerste Snee” (2011) and the feature film “Confetti Harvest” (2014). Her TV production “Mimoun” (2013) was nominated for an Emmy Award and won the Prix Jeunesse International. Her TV series “Pie” (2014) was again nominated for an Emmy Award.
Dorsvloer vol confetti (Confetti Harvest, 2014), Mr. K (2024)