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.
Comment
09/21/09
Adam Resurrected (2008)
36
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:13
Rotten:23
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: Such an unusual tale might have made for a compelling drama, but Adam Resurrected suffers from narrative confusion and an emotional detachment at its core.
Synopsis: The trouble with Holocaust movies is that they're about the Holocaust; they resurrect an illustrious horror, habited by history's most reliable demons, with little to say except that, yes, this was... [More]
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, Ayelet Zurer
Director: Paul Schrader
Reviews for Adam Resurrected
The ending throws away the complexity that makes the rest of the movie so interesting
04/21/09
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.
01/31/09
Goldblum gives a powerful performance in this film. His is one of the best performances by any actor in any film released in 2008.
01/29/09
Inexplicable, eclectic and esoteric, it's a sardonic turn-off to a mainstream audience.
01/06/09
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.
01/05/09
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.
12/22/08
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.
12/19/08
In a less competitive year, Jeff Goldblum would have had a shot at an Oscar nod.
12/19/08
Top CriticThe conclusion of the film conveys a sense of moderate relief over life-altering transformation, shortchanging the miracle Goldblum is working overtime to achieve.
12/18/08
One cannot recommend this film strongly enough.
12/18/08
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.
12/16/08
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.
12/16/08
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.
12/16/08
A semi-unbearable attempt at profundity set in a mental institution 15 years after WWII.
12/12/08
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.
12/12/08
Top CriticEven when it flies off the rails deep into its third act, Resurrected remains strangely hypnotic.
12/11/08
Between Jeff Goldblum's wildly over-mannered performance and the schlocky treatment of serious subject matter, it's hard to know whether to simply dismiss the film or be outraged by it.
12/11/08
This is the rare film that is memorable, affecting, and bad.
12/11/08
Weird combination of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and a Holocaust drama is (almost) saved by Jeff Goldblum's commanding lead performance.
12/11/08
Latest News for Adam Resurrected
October 30, 2008:
DIY Distribution Comes of Age 
Once strictly the realm of the truly hard to watch, DIY film distribution is on the upswing among filmmakers disenchanted with the studio system. More...
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