Director: Irving Franco
One teenager, several strangers, and a single unanswered question about fatherhood drive this quiet 2024 road drama.
What is Adam the First about?
Adam has a list of names and addresses instead of a father, so he leaves home to visit each man who might be the one who left before he was born. Every stop introduces a different life he could have inherited: a strict household, a chaotic one, a man who wants nothing to do with him, another who seems almost relieved to be found. Rather than building toward one tidy reveal, the film treats the search itself as the point, letting Adam pick up pieces of who he might become from strangers who owe him nothing. Shot mostly on the move across small towns and highway stops, it keeps its scale intimate, favoring long conversations in kitchens and parked cars over dramatic confrontation.
Cast & crew
Oakes Fegley carries the film as Adam, playing the same wary curiosity in scene after scene while letting small shifts in tone reveal how each encounter changes him. David Duchovny appears as one of the men on Adam's list, bringing a weathered, guarded presence that contrasts with the openness of some of the other candidates. T.R. Knight and Larry Pine round out the gallery of possible fathers, each given just enough screen time to suggest a whole life outside the frame.
Context & significance
Director Irving Franco keeps the film's structure episodic by design, mirroring Adam's journey with a series of short, self-contained chapters rather than a single continuous plot thread. The approach lets the drama sit with everyday, understated moments, since the story is less concerned with a dramatic finish than with what Adam notices about himself in each new household he steps into.
Where & how to watch
Adam the First streams on K-Time with a free account login, and it includes a Persian dub, making the film's dialogue-heavy scenes easy to follow for Farsi-speaking viewers at home.