Everything Is Illuminated (film)
From AwardAnnals
| Film: | Everything Is Illuminated |
|---|---|
| Director: | Liev Schreiber |
| Genres: | |
| Distributor: | Warner Home Video |
| Find it: |
|---|
Reviews
Amazon.com
Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated stars Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) as Jonathan Safran Foer, a young Jewish man who wants to learn how his grandfather escaped from the Nazi incursions into Russia. From the U.S., he hires the hip-hop loving Alex (Eugene Hutz, leader of the gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello) and his surly grandfather (Boris Leskin, Men in Black) as tour guides—only to discover, when he arrives in Odessa, that they are perhaps less than dependable. Thus begins a curious, almost metaphysical road trip that carries Foer into the past of his grandfather’s village and the present of his own compulsive habits. Adapted and directed by Liev Schreiber (best known as an actor in The Daytrippers and The Manchurian Candidate), Everything is Illuminated buckles a little under its literary weight—what seems deft and resonant in the middle of several hundred pages can feel forced and overstated in a two-hour movie—but it’s also full of delightful dialogue, vivid characters, and oddball yet affecting scenes. Wood is his usual charming and neurotic self, but Hutz steals the show with the help of his wonderfully fractured English and his soulful eyes. —Bret Fetzer
Barnes and Noble
An obsessive young man (Elijah Wood, almost unrecognizable with slicked-down hair and thick glasses) journeys to Ukraine in an attempt to locate the woman credited with saving his Jewish grandfather from the Nazis during World War II. The trip becomes an offbeat odyssey that gives new meaning to the phrase “culture clash.” Talented actor Liev Schreiber couldn’t have picked a more complex project for his directorial debut: Illuminated is adapted from an avant-garde novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, a sprawling yarn that covers some 200 years and thumbs its nose at most literary conventions. The film narrows its focus to Jonathan’s Ukrainian adventure, which will be amply bizarre for most viewers. For the first hour or so it’s a flat-out comedy that pairs buttoned-down Jonathan with irrepressible Alex (Eugene Hutz, frontman of gypsy punk band Gogol Borello), whose fractured English is good for numerous chuckles. The humor, some of it involving a dog named Sammy Davis Jr., is rather broad and makes Wood a straight man for his eccentric costars. But the third act turns sober, even a bit dark, and the abrupt change in tone might be a little off-putting. Nonetheless, this is a daring, provocative film, and if your tastes run to the unusual, you’ll find it most appealing. Ed Hulse
Related works
Everything Is Illuminated: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Paul Cantelon, Various Artists
“Everything Is Illuminated” is the directorial debut of actor Liev Schrieber and an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-selling novel. A blend of high comedy and great tragedy, the film tells the story of a young American man, played by Elijah Wood (The Lord of The Rings trilogy), who journeys to the Ukraine to find the woman whom he believes saved his grandfather from the Nazis all those years ago. The soundtrack features two new songs from high energy New York City based gypsy punks Gogol Bordello, including one track not on their current cd. (Note: Gogol Bordello’s lead singer plays a role in “Everything Is Illuminated”). Also included are gypsy folk songs from Russia and the Ukraine by Leningrad, Arkadie Severmie, Csokolom and Tin Hat Trio. And finally, Paul Cantelon’s ethnic score ties together this nicely cohesive soundtrack.
Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel
With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man—also named Jonathan Safran Foer—sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.
As their adventure unfolds, Jonathan imagines the history of his grandfather’s village, conjuring a magical fable of startling symmetries that unite generations across time. Lit by passion, fear, guilt, memory, and hope, the characters in Everything Is Illuminated mine the black holes of history. As the search moves back in time, the fantastical history moves forward, until reality collides with fiction in a heart-stopping scene of extraordinary power.
An arresting blend of high comedy and great tragedy, this is a story about searching for people and places that no longer exist, for the hidden truths that…
