Plot and My Pseudo-Analysis & Review:  Again, Josef K. is arrested for no discernible reason that he can see.  The blurb on the box says, "On the morning of his 30th birthday, Josef K. (Kyle MacLachlan) wakes up to every person's worst nightmare when two strange men enter his home to place him under arrest.  Bewildered by the reasoning of these authorities, he doesn't take the charges seriously and attempts to carry on his life as usual.  When summoned to a hearing in an unfamiliar part of the city, however, K. refuses to accept the case being brought against him by the system (???). The more K. tries to fight the unnamed charges and take control of his unravelling life, the more confused and destructive things become."
    Actually this movie is technically closer to the book than the 1963 version, even going so far as to quote sizable portions of the Muir text, although what else would you expect from the BBC, who produced it?  In fact, in perusing the script (published in the UK by Faber and Faber), I found the few scenes from the book that were cut (such as the conversation with Frau Grubach) are in the script and were actually shot, but cut due to time constraints.  The movie was shot in Prague in wonderfully vivid color, which is a joy to look at.  Besides the few scenes from the book which were dropped, most of the rest are almost unduly faithful to the book (in the book, for instance, Fräulein Bürstner has auburn hair, and in the movie she really does have auburn hair, Josef trying on gloves before the executioners come, etc.), which tends to be a plus for people who know the book, although keep in mind, as Roger Ebert said, that adaptations are not marriages and remakes are not adultery.  I thought this was a very  restrained production, almost like a Classics Illustrated  or Masterpiece Theatre version of Kafka, and very British at that—at least to this very American reviewer!
    Kyle MacLachlan is quite convincing as Josef K., although he spends the movie slipping  into and out of a pseudo-British accent, but other than that a very good performance.  Anthony Hopkins steals the entire Cathedral scene with his role as the Priest, although without the benefit of a pictorial representation the parable of the Man From the Country is a bit harder to follow than in the 1963 Trial, which opened with a slide show of the story.  On the other hand, people who don't know the book may have a harder time following it—I have shown this movie to some people whose whole knowledge of Kafka is nil and some of them didn't get it.  Kafka is kind of an acquired taste.
    The main difference between the two filmed Trials, in my view, is that the newer version doesn't have the kind of mythic resonance of the earlier one.  For instance, when Josef sees the offices in the '63 Trial, they tower above him and seem to devour him in their vastness (they were shot in a huge abandoned train station), whereas in this version they look pretty dumpy and ordinary.  Admittedly, in the book they are stuffy and dumpy, but it is virtually impossible to capture the paranoia of the book on film except through visuals.  Josef seems more like a mildly annoyed but solid man in this one, as opposed to the other one, where Perkins's Josef seemed about to careen off the edge into insanity and paranoia, although of  course some of that is due to his infamous role as Norman Bates the truly disturbed—and disturbing—mama's boy/weirdo in Psycho (which was, incidentally, also remade with lesser results).  And in Kyle MacLachlan's case, I seem to remember him as the cool-headed bastion of reason in a malestrom of insanity as Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks. These characterizations seem to follow them in their respective Trials. In the end, it's basically a matter of taste as to which you prefer.
 

    [After Josef K.'s arrest, he demands to know more about the charges against him, and confronts the Inspector with his questions.]
    Josef K.: I certainly am surprised, but not very surprised.
    Inspector: You're not very surprised?
    Josef K.: I mean—Can I sit down?
    Inspector: It's not usual.
    Josef K.: I mean, of course I'm surprised. But after all, the world is the world, one gets used to surprises, one doesn't take them too seriously, especially the kind of thing that's going on here today.
    Inspector: Oh? Why's that?
    Josef K.: I'm not going as far as to say that I look on the whole thing as a joke—
    Inspector: Quite right.
    Josef K.: But it's hardly to be taken seriously, is it? I mean, I know I'm being charged—but with what and on what grounds and who is making the accusation? That is what I would like to know. This is a legally constituted state, the rule of law is fully established. Who are you? What is your authority? I demand clear answers to these questions.
    Inspector: You've really got it all wrong. We know nothing about your case. I don't even know whether you've been charged. You've just been arrested. That's all we know. But don't worry about us. Worry about yourself. Worry about what might happen to you. And don't talk so much.
 
 

    Leni:  The fact is you didn't like me and you probably still don't like me even now.  Do you want to know what my name is?
    Josef K.:  What is it?
    Leni:  It's Leni.  Call me Leni.  Can't you think of anything else except your trial?
    Josef K.:  I'm not sure I think about it enough.
    Leni:  I've heard you're too inflexible.
    Josef K.:  Who said that?
    Leni:  Don't be so inflexible.  There's no way you can defend yourself against this court, you have to admit your guilt, that's all.  Make a full confession as soon as you can.  That's the only way you can escape from them.  And I'm going to help you.  But you have to say my name first.
    Josef K.:  Leni.
    Leni:  Ooh, that's nice.
    Josef K.:  And if I don't confess my guilt, then you won't be able to help me?
    Leni:  No, then I won't be able to help you.  But you don't want my help at all, do you?  You're obstinate and you won't listen to reason.  Aren't you?  You're obstinate, aren't you?  [She touches his face.]  Look, I've got a physical defect.  [Spreading out her fingers.]  Feel it.
    Josef K. [As he does so.]:  Extraordinary.  What a pretty little paw!  [He kisses it.]
    Leni:  You've kissed me! [As they fall on the floor together.]  Now you belong to me!
 

    Priest:  Do you know your case is going badly?
    Josef K.:  I have that impression.
    Priest:  How do you think it will end?
    Josef K.:  I don't know.  Do you?
    Priest:  No, but I fear it will end badly.  Your case may not get beyond a lower court.  You are considered to be guilty.
    Josef K.:  But I am not.  And anyway, how can any man be called guilty?  We're all human beings, aren't we?  One human being is just like another.
    Priest:  That's true, but that's how all guilty men speak.
    Josef K.:  So you're prejudiced against me too?
    Priest:  No, I'm not prejudiced against you.
    Josef K.:  Thank you.  But people are prejudiced against me.  My position is becoming more and more difficult.
    Priest:  You don't seem to understand the essential facts.  The verdict does not come all at once.  The proceedings gradually merge into the verdict.
    Josef K.:  So that's how it is.
    Priest:  What do you plan to do next?
    Josef K.:  Get more help.
    Priest:  You ask for too much help from other people.  Especially from women.  Don't you see that's not the kind of help you need?
    Josef K.:  Oh, I don't know.  Women have great power.  And this court is obsessed by women.  Show an examining magistrate an attractive woman in the distance and he'll knock over his table and the defendant in order to get his hands on her.  Are you angry with me?  Perhaps you don't realize the kind of court you're serving?  I'm only telling you what I've observed.  I didn't mean to offend you.
    Priest [yelling] :  Can't you see what is going to happen to you?  Can't you see what is staring you in the face?
    Josef K.:  Won't you come down here?  You haven't got to preach a sermon.  Can you come down?
    Priest:  Yes, I can come down now.  I had to speak to you first from a distance—because, you see, I am quite easily influenced and tend to forget my duty.
    Josef K.:  Can you spare me a little more time?
    Priest:  As much as you need.
    Josef K.:  You're being very kind to me.  I appreciate it.  You're an exception among those who belong to the Court.  I trust you more than any of them.  I feel I can speak freely to you.
 

    [Later on]
    Josef K.:  You were being so kind to me, explaining things to me, but now you're letting me go as if you cared nothing about me.
    Priest:  But it was you who said you had to go.
    Josef K.:  Yes, you must understand that.
    Priest:  But you must understand what I am also.
    Josef K.:  You're the Prison Chaplain.
    Priest:  Precisely.  That means I belong to the Court.  So why should I want anything from you?  The Court doesn't want anything from you.  It recieves you when you come and it dismisses you when you go.