Product description

Everything Is Illuminated [2005]

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 7321900593434
Label : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Release date : 2006-03-27
Title : Everything Is Illuminated [2005]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 12 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 2005-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 101
Studio : Warner Home Video
Theatrical releaseDate : 2005

Editorial reviews

Synopsis
Acclaimed actor Liev Schrieber (RKO 281, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) makes his directorial debut in this adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling novel about a young Jewish-American writer of the same name. Mixing equal parts black comedy and poignant drama, the film follows Jonathan as he travels to the Ukraine to solve a family secret. There he meets his barely legitimate tour guides: Alex (Eugene Hutz, member of the folk-punk band Gogol Bordello), a cosmopolitan playboy obsessed with Michael Jackson and other American icons; Alex's grandfather, a man worn down by life who seems to be losing his grip on reality; and Sammy Davis, Jr. Jr, the 'seeing eye bitch' dog who comes along for the ride. As Jonathan closes in on his goal to find the story behind the woman who saved his grandfather during the Holocaust, it becomes clear that Alex's grandfather has a dark secret of his own that needs to be, as the film suggests, illuminated. EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED lives up to the quirkiness of its source material, and is similar to films like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH or LOST IN TRANSLATION. Filmed on location in Prague, the film features breathtaking landscapes, including a memorable scene in a field of sunflowers. Also notable is the film's soundtrack, which features songs by Gogol Bordello, as well as an outstanding ethnic score by Paul Cantelon. Quirky, funny, sweet, and sad, Schreiber's excellent adaptation provides both closure and hope for survivors of the Holocaust.

Customer reviews

review by: Traveller date: 2007-11-11 rating:

Watch and be enchanted
Had this movie on my shelf for several months before I even read the blurb on the back. Early one sunday morning I decided to watch it - I was stuneed by the simplicity, narrative and the incredibly moving story it portrays. Wood is perfect as the obsessive Jew looking for his past and the likeable Alex is as his translator is so well cast.
Did a quick search on Trachimorod, the place they search for - may not be real but I'm sure they are many other villages where such things took place.
An excellent story that deserves to be watched.

review by: ditzymama date: 2007-04-04 rating:

There's hope for Elijah Wood
... who seems to have been inadvertently typecast as Frodo. Films like this show you that he can do other roles well. (See also "Sin City.")

It has been said that we laugh because it hurts, and this film provokes such laughter in spades, from Alex's peculiar English and the casual brutality of his everyday family life to Jonathan's hugely magnifying spectacles and his eccentric collecting. When the grandfather's tragic secret is revealed towards the end -- it is by no means spelled out and still leaves you wondering what exactly happened -- a lot of things come to a head: the grandfather's life ends quite dramatically, both Jonathan and Alex discover their common roots, and many things that were previously just odd begin to make sense and become significant.

"Everything is Illuminated" -- weird, beautiful, sad, funny -- remind us about life and people and how strange and wonderful we all are.

review by: the pres date: 2007-01-14 rating:

funny, thoughtfull and moving
There are a lot of people who claim that in order to fully appreciate a literary adaptation, you have to have read the source material before you see the film on which it is based. I don't ascribe to this theory and if you want a good reason why, look no further than the hideous treatment of Saruman in the cinema release of the Return of the King, and he did not fare much better in the fan boy pleasing extended edition, if I had never read the book, this would not have rankled so much.
Never having read the book on which Liev Schriebers directorial debut is based, I came to this film with no preconceptions at all, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised as a result. Taking the story of one mans search for his roots as its basis, this is a movie that is both funny and moving as it deals with the much covered subject of roots and genocide in a decidedly new fashion. Elijah Wood plays the central character of Jonathan Safran Foer, a young man who is compulsively driven to collect mementos about his Jewish family, so that he never forgets them. When his grandfather dies, Jonathan finds a photograph of his grandfather as a young man in the company of a mystery woman, the woman who apparently saved his grandfathers life during World War 2. So Jonathan, in search of the truth, sets of for his grandfather's homeland of the Ukraine. Here he meets his guide for the journey, a Western obsessed culture vulture named Alex (played with hilarious conviction by Eugene Hutz), and his driver, Alex's grandfather, who has his own reasons for wanting to help Jonathan.
Initially coming across as just another culture clash comedy, albeit a very funny one, the film manages to be something more than what it initially appears to be, cramming in such as subplots as anti-Semitism, understanding and forgiveness around its broad central theme. As the mismatched trio move closer to their final destination (which comes as a surprise when it is finally revealed), accompanied by Alex's grandfathers dog, the strangely named Sammy Davis Junior Junior, they begin to understand each other and appreciate each other as well, particularly Alex and Jonathan, who strike up a strange friendship. The three leads are very good, with Elijah Wood playing Jonathan as a nervous man who is afraid of what life will throw at him next and Boris Leskin as the cursing moody grandfather who has a secret that he can no longer hide. But it is Eugene Hutz as Alex who is the real star of the film. As Jonathans English mangling guide, he portrays Alex as a man who is almost the polar opposite of Jonathan, happy to take what life throws at him and tackle it head on.
This is an assured and enjoyable directorial debut from Schrieber, who although he occasionally allows the film to loose its focus, particularly in the central section, has crafted an enjoyable and highly watchable movie with an ear for the earthy and an eye for the absurd.

review by: date: 2006-12-07 rating:

Illuminating
I rented this film because I'd heard some good things about it, not really expecting much. I found extremely moving at times - I was in tears for the last 30 minutes or so (it is after all about a Jewish man going to the Ukraine and trying to find the woman who saved the life of his grandfather from the Nazis).

So don't rent this expecting to see just another quirky indie flick, its much more than that - watch this film with an open mind. This film is funny, sad and heartwarming at the same time. It is well acted and well cast and some of the scenery is breathtaking. I would not hesitate to recommend this film to those who wish to find a little illumination in their own lives.

I am now going to buy a copy of this to keep in my own collection.

review by: groovecheckyomap date: 2006-11-15 rating:

Fantastically took me by Surprise
I hired this and when it came I wasn't particularly looking forward to watching it. However, nothing on the TV so I put it on. I thought it was gonna be 'Being John Malkovich' weird. It is a little quirky but that is only because a character is quirky. But I have to say:
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST FILMS I HAVE EVER SEEN.
It is funny and heartwarming. It has superb characters who interact just perfectly.
You must must watch this film. I watched it again within the same week. Something I never do. It is great great great.

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