When I saw Adam Resurrected at the Telluride Film Festival in 2008, I thought Jeff Goldblum would finally receive some accolades for his acting – at least a Best Actor nomination. Instead, nothing. This strange, riveting and powerful film received almost no theatrical release, and no critical acclaim to speak of. Let’s give it its just due.

Adam Resurrected was an Israeli novel that director Paul Schrader loved and decided to film. The novel and film attempt to capture the Holocaust and it’s reverberations through a different, more dream-like lens than previous attempts at the subject. Goldblum plays Adam Stein, a Holocaust survivor living in an institute for mentally disturbed survivors, in Israel’s Negev desert. Stein is indeed disturbed, as we come to realize through a series of flashbacks, but he is also something of a magical charismatic – he’s able to cause himself injury simply by concentrating, the head nurse openly desires him, and the administrating doctor nearly idolizes him. All of this could easily have turned into farce, but as portrayed by Goldblum and directed by the criminally underrated Schrader, I found every moment fascinating and new.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Jeff Goldblum, and hoped he could someday find a part that would fit his eccentric brand of intellectual physicality, and this is it. The story demands a powerful, all-consuming presence in the center of the frame, and I really can’t imagine anyone else filling it – his is really bravura acting.

Paul Schrader is the most underrated director working today. The only work he ever gets credit for are his original script for Taxi Driver and his learned studies of auteurist theory. Some of his other wonderful films are The Comfort of Strangers, Mishima, Auto Focus, Affliction, and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. He has also written a vast number of scripts for other directors, including Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ. Be sure to notice Schrader’s fluid, almost liquid camera movements throughout Adam Resurrected, especially one, at around the 25-minute mark, when he employs a swooping, gliding single take as Adam looks for the “dog.” – [DVD]

Drama/War

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 9/22/09

Tags: , , , , , , ,