Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

"A movie with wit, warmth and unabashed emotion.  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"A brave and loving movie.  Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
"...the book's humanity and humor shine through.  Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"Schreiber capably adds writer-director to his impressive resume with this winning take on the Jonathan Safran Foer novel.  Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter

Editor's Note Acclaimed actor Liev Schrieber (DAYTRIPPERS, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) makes his directorial debut in this adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's bestselling novel about a young Jewish-American writer of the same name. Mixing equal parts black comedy and poignant drama, the film follows Jonathan (Elijah Wood) 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 (Boris Leskin), 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.

	Elijah Wood
	Eugene Hutz
	Jana Hrabetova
	Jonathan Safran Foer
	Andrew Marcus - Editor
	Jonathan Safran Foer - Based On Novel By
	Liev Schreiber - Screenplay
	Liev Schreiber - Director
	Matthew Libatique - Cinematographer
	Paul Cantelon - Musical Score
	Peter Saraf - Producer

Entertainment Weekly
"Schreiber's heartfelt project earns points for disciplined ambition....Impressively well lit." -- Grade: B 09/23/2005 p.62

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"Schreiber elicits fine performances. Wood works with great subtlety, and Hutz is marvelously engaging..." 09/01/2005 p.98-100

Premiere
"[Hutz gives] a performance of great comic instinct and unexpected subtlety....[A] humane, moving road trip." 10/01/2005 p.49-50

USA Today
"[T]he story's intrinsic value and imaginative zest remain, as does the book's hilarious dialogue?.The result is a charming and eccentric story of a journey through the back roads of the Ukraine, with a pair of unlikely guides." 09/16/2005 p.6E

Sight and Sound
"Hutz's embodiment of 'street' Kiev is a blast....Lifted directly from the book, his mangled English raises the film's biggest laughs..." 12/01/2005 p.54

Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "Schreiber's balance of offbeat humour and tragedy is perfectly judged, while Leskin steals the show as the man unlocking terrible secrets from the past." 05/01/2006 p.150

Los Angeles Times 7 of 10
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. - Carina Chocano

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Everything is Illuminated is a film that grows in reflection. The first time I saw it, I was hurtling down the tracks of a goofy ethnic comedy when suddenly we entered dark and dangerous territory. I admired the film but did not sufficiently appreciate its arc. I went to see it again at the Toronto Film Festival, feeling that I had missed some notes, had been distracted by Jonathan's eyeglasses and other relative irrelevancements (as Alex might say). The second time, I was more aware of the journey Schreiber was taking us on, and why it is necessary to begin where he begins in order to get where he's going. - Roger Ebert