SnoopyStyle Jonathan Safran Foer (Elijah Wood) is a peculiar guy. He collects the most mundane everyday personal things. He is Jewish. After his grandfather's death, he goes to Ukraine in search of the ancestral home town of Trachimbrod. He hires an anti-semitic cranky old man and his American pop culture loving grandson Alex to guide him. Alex's translating ability is limited. History is long forgotten. Nobody has heard of the place he's looking for.Director Liev Schreiber is trying too hard to be quirky without actually achieving any laughs. It's weird for weird's sake. Schreiber doesn't have the necessary skills to make it fun. I sit there like Wood's character with his googly eyes staring unblinkingly. For the most part, the movie is a slow weird procession. Then the movie gets to the place and it achieves something poetic. I wonder if these characters are more real, would the story be more poignant? I think the story got a bit overwhelmed by the quirky mannerisms.

zee There are some clever lines in the script, but the movie failed anyway because ofbad directingawful editing--seriously, just horrible pacingthe most irksome score I've heard in a long whilean unappealing protagonist in the Collector (played by Wood)unevenness of toneI really wasn't in the mood to read a movie as subtitles; this is not advertised as a foreign film, but in large part it isOne terrific actor (Hutz) shining like a diamond in a pile of dog doo gets the two stars; everything else stinks.

Jill Tracey Some criticism in these pages have expressed opinions about the accuracy of the story, which after all, it's a work of fiction and liberties have been taken. It would have been impossible to make another film including so much that is contained in the book. The great way the film is divided into different chapters is a clever way to let the viewer know what's about to be seen.Elijah Wood, a magnificent film actor, does an excellent work by underplaying Jonathan. Mr. Wood makes one of his best appearances in any film with his interpretation of the main character. The felicitous casting of Eugene Hutz as Alex, the Ukranian tour assistant and translator, seems to be an idea made in heaven. Mr. Hutz is about the best thing in the film. His arcane usage of English gives the film a funny angle that delights the viewer. Boris Leskin as Alex's grandfather and driver of the tour car makes a valuable contribution to the film, as well as Laryssa Lauret, who is seen in the last part of the movie.The excellent cinematography of Matthew Libatique brings the splendor of the Czech Republic's countryside in all its magnificence. The musical score by Paul Cantelon is heard in the background adorning the film in ways that it adds a richness to the movie.Above all, this is a triumph for Liev Schreiber, the first time director that will surely go far in whatever he decides to do next.

Jan Kowalski I have no idea why I didn't stumble upon this piece earlier. Probably because, holocaust movies, unless given the blessing of high budget (Schindler's List, The Pianist) tend to vanish in the vast variety of box office hit lists."Everything is Illuminated" is a very not-your-average-American-movie you could take it for. The story of a road trip of three totally contradicting characters on a search for the lost past, is told in an emotional way you can usually only find in Eastern European movies. If not for that, I wouldn't stop by to write these few words. But it makes a whole world of difference.Starting from the language, the clash between American and eastern European cultures, the funny twists of English words, which emphasize the differences way beyond a simple lick of the topic every tourist gets, the music, editing, smart camera and light use, and ending with the superb acting of the cast - it's all piling up to a very tasty feast. That's the first time I see a strictly American movie go beyond that kind of dull (by now) narration we are used to. Liev Schreiber mimics the style of Kusturica (but also, as I'm country-biased, those of early Polanski or Jan Jakub Kolski) in a perfect, yet innovative manner. Giving us not story, but a tale, something between dreams, rigid reality and foggy past, that is hard to forget.Elijah Wood as Jonathan, Eugene Hutz as Alex and Boris Lenski as grandfather together with their delusional but adorable blind eye bitch Sammy Davies Junior Junior give a wonderful concerto of performances. Also who ever made the research on locations, clothes, and gave the general taste of what's a deep East European countryside (similiar to what the movies tell us about deep American south) did a grand job. Spot on.I'm intentionally not telling you much about the story itself, the less I tell the more enjoyable to watch it should be. Just let me say that, everything is illuminated. Smile, laugh, be surprised, weep. Because that's life, you get a little bit of everything (if you're lucky). And about life, it is.