A travelling stage magician cannot get out of the hotel where he has stopped for the night in Tallulah H. Schwab’s surrealist film inspired by Kafka’s characters.
After a performance, stage magician Mr. K. (Crispin Glover) stops at a strange hotel located in an old mansion. Mysterious people inhabit his room, the word «liberator» is written on the peeling wallpaper, and unclear noises are coming from within the walls. After a restless night, Mr. K. wants to leave as soon as possible but cannot find the exit. As he walks through the hotel’s corridors peeking into other rooms, he meets guests who have been stuck at the hotel for years. He soon realizes that whatever is happening at the hotel follows no logic whatsoever. Where is he?
Tallulah H. Schwab’s inventive and unpredictable second feature pushes the boundaries of reality. Its characters look fantastical and hyperrealist, yet almost tangible. Annoyingly loud noises and closeups of surfaces make her screen world dreamlike. Mr. K. (the name of the protagonist in Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel The Castle) tries to find meaning in the absurdity that surrounds him, becomes desperate, accepts it, and finally comes up with his own explanation. Tallulah H. Schwab invites the viewer to do the same.
Mr. K. premiered in the competition of the 49th Toronto International Film Festival.
The film will be screened in English with Russian subtitles.
Mr. K
Director: Tallulah H. Schwab
Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, 2024. 94 min.
18+