How sad is this?

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Paul Schrader graduates into the "you can mix anything with anything" school of film making and does it with a national treasure in Israel. An Israeli/German/American production, Jeff Goldblum gives his best performance as a Geman-Jew performer/magician who goes through the 3rd Reich syndrome of modern imagined hells in order to describe a loving relationship between two humans lost in the performance/performer confusion. Schrader's strict Calvinist upbringing has always had him swimming deep into deepness and here he's once again in his element. He goes into detail on the commentary about his new thing in directing going from Hollywood classicism to the "anything goes" of today's transcendence into free-style mixing coming out of the electronic music revolution of the '90s. He talks about this at the following times on the commentary: 37:16—43:15, 45:50—48:52, 49:49—59:02, and 1:21:18— 1:24:09. Adapted from Yoram Kaniuk's '70s novel, Schrader needed to 'get hip' to have a chance with this creative masterwork. So did Goldblum who is working against his own past gestalt of clowning and goofing. Here he ironically can utilise a lot of this schtick; and he outdoes himself actually acting as good as he 'teaches' in LA (to get lots of legendary ass). Not a masterpiece, but ably offers a real adaptation of a very complex novel, a very rare accomplishment as Schrader talks about in the commentary and panel discussion. Fossilized Hollywood gets real stupid regarding 'translating' since they think they will miss the original product and lose the magical 'free' $. Art is actually required. Schrader is an honorary Jew and very similar in personality. Looking forward to the second half of his amazing career.

I wanted this to be something it clearly could never live up to...."An entertaining film with great actors playing well written parts". So maybe it's the writing that let's it down or maybe it's the director that let it down but I have to say it's also some of the acting that lets it down. Interesting story line that in the right hands could have been something special. Simple things like Jeff Goldblum (whom I'm a fan of) speaking one moment with a German accent then a scene later without it is a tip off somethings not right here. Willem Dafoe as usual doesn't miss a beat and plays his part to a tee. In the end it not something you have to put on your list of things to see which is a shame because the story itself holds promise. It's frustrating watching movies that could have been, should have been and seeing them done like this. All that money and talent.

I would never,never had gone thru the process to write a review unless it was the kind of movie like this: one Part One flew over the cuckoo nest and one part Earaserhead and one part Anne Frank and one part Elephant Man.It is grotesque yet teaches lessons and confronts life and all of its concerns.By far the best horror movie I have ever seen in my life!William Dafoe is at his sickest best and yet he is looking for and getting no sympathy or even pity.He is a horrible,horrible monster that could only have been created by the Nazi Hate Machine.The young boy that plays the dog does it with earnestness and yet resists the urge to make it into child's play or a sick comedy.Sorry for the simplicity but it is my very first review of a movie.Loved it!

I was immediately taken in by this movie. Jeff Goldblum is excellent and the storyline is intriguing - at first. However, as the plot unfolds, the story becomes more and more unbelievable.Jeff Goldblum plays a well known Jewish comic/psychic/magician in Berlin, who is being harassed as early as 1936 by the Nazis (extreme intimidation tactics like those depicted in the film don't really get underway until after Kristallnacht in November 1938.) He arrives in a camp in 1944 which seems particularly late for such a prominent Jewish citizen (the most well known Jews generally disappeared first, either through emigration or arrest.) Once interred, a peculiar relationship is created between the commandant and Jeff Goldblum who, as a prisoner, must act like a dog. He thinks this will save his family... It is difficult to believe he acted like a dog on a long term basis, but the reason this is introduced into the story is because fifteen years later he helps a boy who thinks he is a dog. This part of the story occurs in a psychiatric hospital for holocaust survivors. The boy who thinks he is a dog is about 11 years old, which means he was born well after the war and thus not a camp survivor, but this is never explained in the film.It all reads like a plot taken from literature, which is exactly where it came from. The actors and director did an excellent job, some of the art direction (costuming, sets) was peculiar (what the hell were those boots the nurse wore!) but ultimately, you have to like an almost surreal plot line to appreciate this film. I am not a fan of this kind of literature - I prefer realism and films based on true stories. After all, truth is stranger than fiction.