Adam Resurrected (2008)

34% of critics liked it
(38 reviews)
45% of users liked it
(773 ratings)

Author Yoram Kaniuk's celebrated 1971 novel concerning a charismatic yet questionably sane Holocaust survivor comes to the screen in this dark drama starring Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, and Derek Jacobi. In the years before World War II, Adam Stein (Goldblum) was a Berlin entertainer who thrilled… More Author Yoram Kaniuk's celebrated 1971 novel concerning a charismatic yet questionably sane Holocaust survivor comes to the screen in this dark drama starring Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, and Derek Jacobi. In the years before World War II, Adam Stein (Goldblum) was a Berlin entertainer who thrilled audiences with extravagant circus acts and spectacular magic tricks. Later, when Hitler took power and Europe was plunged into chaos, Stein and his family were locked away in a concentration camp presided over by the sadistic Commandant Klein (Dafoe). The only reason Stein survived those dreadful years was because he managed to become the commandant's personal "dog," entertaining his captors even as his wife and daughter are marched off to die. Flash-forward to 1961, when Stein is a patient at an Israeli mental hospital for Holocaust survivors. Seemingly able to read minds, Stein confounds head doctor Nathan Gross (Jacobi) with the question "Who brought a dog in here?" Despite Gross' vehement denial that any such animal is on the premises, Stein soon tracks the scent to a young boy who has spent his entire youth locked in a basement and chained to a wall. Over time, Stein and the boy see in each other something undeniably familiar, and the two kindred spirits set out on a remarkable journey together. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Paul Schrader
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Dec 12, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Sep 22, 2009
Studio: Bleiberg Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
In a less competitive year, Jeff Goldblum would have had a shot at an Oscar nod.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
A semi-unbearable attempt at profundity set in a mental institution 15 years after WWII.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Savage gallows humor might have substituted for pathos. But Adam Resurrected feels so detached that there is not a laugh, nor even a wicked smirk of nihilistic glee, to be gleaned.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The director, Paul Schrader, tries for cleansing audacity, but ends up too close to farce.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
I can tentatively recommend it if only because there has never been anything like it in the history of cinema as far as I can remember.
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
You've got to hand it to Schrader: He pulls off enough of this impressionistic comedy to provoke passions and arguments anew about a topic that seems done to death.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
Director Paul Schrader is too removed from the powerful emotions roiling through the film, but it may be the only way to handle the horrors he's forced to confront.
Marty Mapes, Movie Habit
The ending throws away the complexity that makes the rest of the movie so interesting
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
A well-acted, sporadically intriguing drama that has a few poignant moments...but its convoluted, unfocused plot fails to pack an emotional wallop as a whole.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
Goldblum gives a powerful performance in this film. His is one of the best performances by any actor in any film released in 2008.
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
Inexplicable, eclectic and esoteric, it's a sardonic turn-off to a mainstream audience.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Grapples with important themes and is expertly made, but is simply too odd and off-putting to be anything more than an almost grotesque curiosity.
Jordan Hiller, Bangitout.com
For all the nightmarish scenes conceived as a creepy cross between Burroughs and Weisel, we don't receive the cathartic satisfaction typically related to the dramatization of Jewish tragedy.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
It seems to have been written in a tone of magical realism, but the director is Paul Schrader, a filmmaker who has many talents, but no feel for whimsy, let alone magic.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
The conclusion of the film conveys a sense of moderate relief over life-altering transformation, shortchanging the miracle Goldblum is working overtime to achieve.
F.X. Feeney, L.A. Weekly
One cannot recommend this film strongly enough.
Alissa Wilkinson, Christianity Today
Could have been a tour de force for director Paul Schrader and his cast, and the glimpses of greatness make the reality all the more disappointing.
Mark R. Leeper, rec.arts.movies.reviews
This is a really off-the-wall nihilistic fantasy that may please a small segment of the audience and perhaps even become a cult film.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
A film of insanity, cruelty and living life when the thrill is gone, "Adam Resurrected" tells a powerful story---for viewers tough enough to take it. One of Jeff Goldblum's best performances and stand-up supporting work by Willem Dafoe.
Nathan Rabin, AV Club
Even when it flies off the rails deep into its third act, Resurrected remains strangely hypnotic.

Read all 21 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jens S

Probably intended as a brave attempt of countering the horrors of WW2 concentration camps with black humor, this does simply not work on any level. The scenes set in a 1960s sanatorium where the Jewish victims have to cope with their past feel arbitrary, random and leave you entirely… More
Probably intended as a brave attempt of countering the horrors of WW2 concentration camps with black humor, this does simply not work on any level. The scenes set in a 1960s sanatorium where the Jewish victims have to cope with their past feel arbitrary, random and leave you entirely confused and uninterested about any of the events. The black and white scenes from the actual concentration camp are slightly better but aren't able to safe this film. Neither does the admittedly decent cast. A movie that celebrates survival by any means could and should have been so much stronger, but this is just dull, preachy and artsy crap that leaves you entirely cold.
Walter M

"Adam Resurrected" starts in Tel Aviv in 1961 where the men in the white suits with butterfly nets come to take Adam Stein(Jeff Goldblum) away to the Seizling Institute, a rehab facility for Holocaust survivors, after he tries to strangle his landlady(Juliane Kohler). While… More
"Adam Resurrected" starts in Tel Aviv in 1961 where the men in the white suits with butterfly nets come to take Adam Stein(Jeff Goldblum) away to the Seizling Institute, a rehab facility for Holocaust survivors, after he tries to strangle his landlady(Juliane Kohler). While some may have doubts about whether or not he can be cured, Dr. Gross(Derek Jacobi), the head doctor, disagrees and Gina(Ayelet Zurer), a nurse, thinks he is hot for some odd reason. While there, he remembers being a clown and working with his family in Berlin before World War II, while sensing there is a dog in room 285. Directed by Paul Schrader, "Adam Resurrected" takes an intriguing psychological angle at the Holocaust, showing that the suffering did not end simply with the liberation of the camps. Adam suffers from a type of survivors' guilt, being dehumanized in his own way. That realistic approach is undercut by elements of magic realism and mysticism. Adam develops odd ailments from which he comes back from the dead, causing at least one fellow patient to think he is the messiah. Why not? They are in the desert, after all. Yes, the movie does come full circle but why so sentimental?
William G

Goldblum proves utterly fascinating in this otherwise bizarre post-Holocaust melodrama.
Eduardo C

A gutless screenplay doesn't quite mar what is a genuinely interesting subject matter. Yes, the film is plagued with tonal inconsistencies and often chooses the least interesting way to approach its subject and yet...