Everything is Illuminated

"My grandfather informs me that is not possible."

This is the story of a young man, Jonathan Safran Foer (Wood) also known as "The Collector" because thats what he does. He collects random objects that remind him of his loved ones: for example, at the beginning of the film as his grandmother is dying he keeps looking at her false teeth. After she dies he places the teeth in a plastic bag, writes her name on the bag (and the datd) and hangs the bag on the wall with the other random objects that remind him of her (and other relatives). In her final moments she gives Jonathan a picture of his grandfather with a woman named Augustine, and a Star of David necklace. Augustine is a family heroine: she helped Jonathan's grandfather escape the Ukraine and get to America, so Jonathan goes to the Ukraine to find this woman (or her descendants).

Meanwhile we are introduced to the Alexs' (there are 3 of them). They are Ukrainian and run a tour business for Jews looking to find their past. The youngest Alex (Hutz) is the narrator of the film. His English is fascinating and he loves to dance. His father is Alexander (Choroshko) a difficult man who handles the family income. And the most colorful member of the family is Grandfather (Leskin) who thinks he is blind. Grandfather has a "seeing eye bitch" (thats what they call the dog the entire film) named Sammy Davis Jr. Junior who is "deranged" and not a real seeing eye dog. Grandfather, Alex and Sammy Davis Jr. Junior are going to take Jonathan to find Augustine (he has a map and knows the name of the town).

This film is quite the roller coaster of emotions...it starts weird (a guy who wears HUGE glasses and collects random stuff?) and then laugh-out-loud funny (when we meet the Alexs') and then solemn and reverent (when they find what they are looking for). When the film ends you know you witnessed something....I'm not really sure what, but something! And even when the film is solemn there are still bits of humor thrown in, and it works. Not many films can do that and still make the emotions real!

Rent it multiple times: I've only seen it once, but I eagerly anticipate seeing it again. It is the kind of film that really makes sense after you've seen it a few times (I watched it with my uncle who had explained the basic plot...and together we discovered new facets of the film that even he didn't notice before)

Dude, it's quotable: Alex has a lot of interesting phrases...but the really funny things happen when he is translating...his grandfather swears and isn't overly fond of Jonathan, so Alex changes some of the words (such as the quote at the top when his grandfather was swearing up and down and said some other negative things...Alex glossed it over by saying "Grandfather informs me that is not possible")

Everything is Illuminated (2005) 106 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images/violence, sexual content and language.

Director: Liev Schrieber

Starring: Eugene Hutz as Alex

Elijah Wood as Jonathan Safran Foer
Oleksandr Choroshko as Alexander Perchov (Father)
Boris Leskin as Grandfather
Tereza Veselkova as Augustine
Laryssa Lauret as Lista