Adam Resurrected
Adam Resurrected
R | 12 December 2008 (USA)
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After again attempting to commit murder, a Jewish man with a mysterious past and extraordinary intelligence, charisma, and body control returns to an insane asylum, where he makes a startling discovery.

Reviews
GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Gary Geiserman Paul Schrader graduates into the "you can mix anything with anything" school of film making and does it with a national treasure in Israel. An Israeli/German/American production, Jeff Goldblum gives his best performance as a Geman-Jew performer/magician who goes through the 3rd Reich syndrome of modern imagined hells in order to describe a loving relationship between two humans lost in the performance/performer confusion. Schrader's strict Calvinist upbringing has always had him swimming deep into deepness and here he's once again in his element. He goes into detail on the commentary about his new thing in directing going from Hollywood classicism to the "anything goes" of today's transcendence into free-style mixing coming out of the electronic music revolution of the '90s. He talks about this at the following times on the commentary: 37:16—43:15, 45:50—48:52, 49:49—59:02, and 1:21:18— 1:24:09. Adapted from Yoram Kaniuk's '70s novel, Schrader needed to 'get hip' to have a chance with this creative masterwork. So did Goldblum who is working against his own past gestalt of clowning and goofing. Here he ironically can utilise a lot of this schtick; and he outdoes himself actually acting as good as he 'teaches' in LA (to get lots of legendary ass). Not a masterpiece, but ably offers a real adaptation of a very complex novel, a very rare accomplishment as Schrader talks about in the commentary and panel discussion. Fossilized Hollywood gets real stupid regarding 'translating' since they think they will miss the original product and lose the magical 'free' $. Art is actually required. Schrader is an honorary Jew and very similar in personality. Looking forward to the second half of his amazing career.
CitizenCaine Paul Schrader directed Adam Resurrected, a tale about a Jewish vaudeville entertainer during the Weimar period who later suffered dehumanization at the hands of a concentration camp commandant and survived. Noah Stollman adapted the screenplay from Yoram Kaniuk's novel of 40 years before, Schrader fashions another story with his infamous thematic elements of man vs. himself and man vs. man while simultaneously wavering between reality and psychological breakdown.Jeff Goldblum is Adam, a Jewish entertainer who is recognized by Commandant Klein (Willem DaFoe), at a concentration, as a talented comedian/musician, etc. from the 1930's. DaFoe dehumanizes Goldblum by making him mimic the actions of a dog, and years later, Goldblum flashes back to these events as he struggles to maintain his sanity and corral survivor's guilt. Derek Jacobi plays Dr. Nathan Gross at the sanitarium for survivor's where Adam (Goldblum) ends up. Once at the sanitarium in the 1960's, Adam (Goldblum) meets a boy who is locked up and acts like a dog. The irony is the boy will become Adam's salvation and resurrect his humanity lost long ago.The subject matter is sure to repel many people and because it is a highly artsy type of film that requires viewers to play intellectual/literary gymnastics with the continuously changing tone of the film and recognizing irony, metaphors, and symbols. Black comedy, the Holocaust, Jewish guilt, mental illness, and sexual perversion are all woven tightly together and they alternate freely in sharing the focus of any particular scene. The novel was similar in that narrators appeared who were different from previous narrators in the without readers recognizing them as such. There is also not a whole lot of action and set changes. Schrader explained the difficulty understanding the film. Confounded viewers expected simple explanations for things instead of discovering something for themselves. However, this idea of using humor to survive is not new and has been filmed many times before, often to much better effect. Life Is Beautiful comes to mind. Budget restraints are evident throughout the film with the black and white concentration camp flashbacks masking the modernity of the setting. Another area in which the low budget is evident is in the Euro-Israeli cast, although it does add an aura of authenticity. Besides the stars Goldblum, DaFoe and Jacobi, the rest of the cast is foreign including the brilliant Ayelet Zurer as Adam's (Goldblum) female interest Gina Grey. As in many lower budget films, the strengths are usually the dialog and acting. In the case of Adam Resurrected, it's mainly the acting of Goldblum and the terrific young boy playing his canine counterpart in the sanitarium: Tudor Rapiteanu. **1/2 of 4 stars.
ween-3 Intriguing and surreal movie with an outstanding performance by Jeff Goldblum, whose name should have been in the mix for any number of acting awards for this film. Holocaust-related movies generally don't get deliver box office results, but this is a strikingly good treatment that deserves a wider audience. Watch it and get the word of mouth out there.Paul Schrader, whose had a hand in more than a few films about human darkness, creates an intriguing film here. The "arms" scene at towards the end of the film is worth the price of admission on its own. Right up there with "I am Spartacus" or the "I'm still here, you bastards" last line from "Papillon". Powerful stuff. Derek Jacobi, Willem DeFoe, Ayelet Zurer, a frighteningly good Romanian kid named Tudor Rapiteanu, and the rest of international cast do yeoman's work.Always been a fan of Jeff Goldblum's read on a line...and he's at the top of his game in "Adam".
lastliberal Willem Dafoe is now Commandant Klein, and he is in charge of a concentration camp. Previously, he was a guest at a show of one of Germany's greatest clowns, Adam Stein (Jeff Goldblum), and now Stein stands before him in his camp. He graciously agrees to free Stein if he does two things, (1) act like a dog for his amusement, and (2) play the violin while his wife and daughter march to their deaths in the gas chamber.Having lost his humanity, Adam is in and out of mental institutions while living in Israel. The patients love him, the doctor (Derek Jacobi) is fascinated with his case, and the head nurse (Ayelet Zurer)wants his body - why, I could never figure out.Adam comes upon a young boy (Tudor Rapiteanu) in the cellar of the institution and begins a transformation that not only cures the boy, but restores his humanity.The back and forth flashback may be disturbing to some, but it is essential to the story, and gives us a chance to enjoy the excellence that Dafoe brings to the screen.Goldblum is excellent, as he always is.