1962: Le procès (The Trial)

As discussed at some lenght by Milan Kundera in his Testaments trahis, Kafka tells his dreamlike story in very clear, simple language, but Welles goes down the opposite route, and I agree with Kundera that that's not a good idea. My point is not that a film should try to be a faithful translation of the book it's based on. But while Kafka's beautiful language enhances what is otherwise a not so interesting story, from Welles we get a sackful of cheap tricks like tilted camera angles, long shadows and even longer hallways, making the film look like a black-and-white version of Brazil; and that, contrary to popular opinion, is not a good film. (5.5 for Le procès; I never finished Brazil)