Barnes & 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

All Movie Guide

A young man takes a strange and unexpectedly funny journey in search of a family heroine he's never known in this screen adaptation of the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Jonathan (Elijah Wood) is a lifelong collector of any and all objects pertaining to his family, and he has become obsessed with a woman he's never met. The woman saved the life of his grandfather during World War II, when the Ukrainian town where he was born was destroyed by Nazi troops. Wanting to know more about the woman, Jonathan flies to the Ukraine, where with the help of a hip-hop obsessed, gold-toothed tour guide and translator named Alex (Eugene Hütz), Alex's grandfather (a chauffeur who has claimed to be blind since his wife's death, played by Boris Leskin), and a dog named Sammy Davis Junior Junior, Jonathan searches for the meaning of the present that lies buried in the past, unexpectedly shedding the same such light on the lives of those around him. Everything Is Illuminated was the first directorial assignment for acclaimed actor Liev Schreiber. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 012569593428
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled
• Time: 1:45:00
• Sales Rank: 4,221

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