Everything Is Illuminated

Everything Is Illuminated (Director: Liev Schrieber)














Character actor Schrieber has been in a great many things. He may still be best known as Cotton Weary in the Scream franchise, but he made a memorable turn as Orson Welles in the HBO flick RKO 281. This is his directorial debut, and he adapted Jonathan Safron Foer's novel for the screen.

Elijah Wood may be the most successful young actor to come out of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His choices since that trilogy hit have been interesting--like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and he's probably the best thing about Sin City. Orlando Bloom is certainly the most financially successful, since he had Troy and Pirates of the Caribbean, but he's run into a wall by not trying to do something challenging in the acting craft (it can be argued that he doesn't have the ability, but his career is too young to decide). And then you have Dominic Monaghan, who found "Lost," but that's all so far. You can decide for yourself out of those three who has been able to shake off his LOTR legacy the best. Billy Boyd, if I were a bigger fan of Seed of Chucky, I'd say you, man.

Wood plays the Jewish author Foer, who is a guy who has collected a swarm of things from dead people and places visited, has stuck them all in Ziploc bags for safe-keeping...for what? Finally, one of his items from his grandfather makes him curious to investigate, as his grandmother approaches death. It's a picture of his grandfather and a mystery woman who is not his grandmother. He asks about the woman, but grandmother's not talking, and she dies before any further probing can occur. So, Jonathan makes a trip to the Ukraine, the homeland, a place where Jews apparently were persecuted as much as they were in Germany. There, he meets guide Alex (Eugene Hutz, who's excellent) and his grandfather (Boris Leskin), and they attempt to find the extremely difficult-to-find village of Trachimbrod. To say more might ruin stuff.

Now, I'm going to make a vague comparison to Saw II here. Obviously, the point of the journey is to figure out who this woman is and why she's so special, but the journey to that point is just as important, and that's where a movie like Saw II was garbage to me. Here, we have a satisfying trip, one where Eugene Hutz and Elijah Wood form a great chemistry of friendship, and Leskin is great as well. You throw three distinct personalities in here, along with a "seeing-eye dog," (not really, as you'll see) and you get a fun road movie with some issues of importance on its mind. It's funny, not too heavy, and an overall satisfying experience.

An excellent first movie from Schreiber. Look forward to more.