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.
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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.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Dramas
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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