Everything Is Illuminated

3.00
    Everything Is Illuminated
    2005

    Synopsis

    A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

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    Cast

    • Elijah WoodJonathan Safran Foer
    • Eugene HutzAlex
    • Boris LeskinGrandfather
    • Jana HrabětovaJonathan's Grandmother
    • Jonathan Safran FoerLeaf Blower
    • Stephen SamudovskyJonathan's Grandfather Safran
    • Oleksandr ChoroshkoAlexander Perchov, Father
    • Gil KazimirovIgor
    • Zuzana HodkováAlex's Mother
    • Ljubomir DezeraYoung Jonathan

    Recommendations

    • 83

      Entertainment Weekly

      For one of those obstreperously original books that are themselves impossible to translate, Everything Is Illuminated is impressively well lit.
    • 75

      Premiere

      I have misgivings about Schreiber's use of the well-worn "I'll make you empathize with these Others, but first let's have laughs at their expense" approach, but eventually I was won over by his humane, moving road trip.
    • 70

      The Hollywood Reporter

      Leave it to Liev: Schreiber capably adds writer-director to his impressive resume with this winning take on the Jonathan Safran Foer novel.
    • 70

      Variety

      Wood's powerlessness to break out of the emotive straightjacket hands the picture to his Russian costars on a platter, and they run with it.
    • 70

      Wall Street Journal

      Not everything is illuminated in his (Liev Schreiber) version, but the book's humanity and humor shine through.
    • 70

      Los Angeles Times

      Schreiber takes Foer's sprawling, multilayered, multigenerational beast and hones it into a post-Glasnost buddy picture; a polished nugget of a road movie, focused mainly on Alex and Jonathan's growing sense of identification with each other and with their origins.
    • 58

      Christian Science Monitor

      The presentation has verve. But the story is confusingly told - everything is NOT illuminated - and, as the seeker, Elijah Wood is a big blank.
    • 50

      ReelViews

      This movie is sloppy and disjointed - an unsatisfying melodrama built upon a shaky foundation of contrivances, coincidences, and plot holes.

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