Adam Resurrected (2008)

Director:

Paul Schrader

Writers:

Yoram Kaniuk (novel)
Noah Stollman (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 December 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

In a world gone mad, being insane was just a way to fit in.

Plot:

In the aftermath of WWII, a former circus entertainer who was spared from the gas chamber becomes the ringleader at an asylum for Holocaust survivors.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Circus | Holocaust | Concentration Camp | Nazi

Cast

Jeff Goldblum	...	Adam Stein
Willem Dafoe	...	Commandant Klein
Derek Jacobi	...	Dr. Nathan Gross
Ayelet Zurer	...	Gina Grey
Hana Laszlo	...	Rachel Shwester
Joachim Król	...	Abe Wolfowitz
Jenya Dodina	...	Gretchen Stein (as Evgenia Dodina)
Tudor Rapiteanu	...	David
Veronica Ferres	...	Frau Fogel
Idan Alterman	...	Arthur
Juliane Köhler	...	Ruth Edelson
Dror Keren	...	Dr. Uri Slonim
Shmuel Edelman	...	Dr. Shapiro (as Schmuel Edelman)
Yoram Toledano	...	Tarshish (as Yoram Tolledano)
Mickey Leon	...	Golomb

Also Known As:

Adam Ben Kelev (Israel: Hebrew title)
Ein Leben für ein Leben - Adam Resurrected (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for some disturbing behavior, sexuality, nudity and some language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Germany | USA | Israel

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade)

Filming Locations:

Castel Film Studios, Bucharest, Romania

Company:

July August Productions

Trivia:

Moni Moshonov was cast as Arthur but had to drop due to schedule conflict and was replaced by comedian-actor Idan Alterman.

Quotes:

Adam Stein: I live in a lovely valley, but the heights are gone forever. There are no more frightful deserts, and I no longer leap into the fire, I am afraid I will get burned. Sanity is pleasant and calm, but there is no greatness, no true joy, nor the awful sorrow that slashes the heart.

Good Movie, Good Performance

Jeff Goldlum does the best "Jeff Goldblum" in the business. If you hire him to do a "Jeff Goldblum" performance, it's like money in the bank. But _Adam Resurrected_ is not that. Goldblum's Adam is a nuanced, unpredictable and intelligent piece of work, the best of his career thus far. Indeed, the film as a whole represents a welcome return to adult themes and emotions. Sorrow, loss, power, human dignity, and human degradation are but some of the themes at work in Schrader's movie. Happily, we are not handed a tidy resolution (with the requisite "redemption" at the end), but a deep sense that life is a complicated, conflicted and layered experience. See this film when and if you get tired of CGI effects, Ben Stiller fart jokes and "the genius of Seth Rogen."