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Everything is Illuminated

Country: USA, Language: English, 106 mins

  • Director: Liev Schreiber
  • Writer: Jonathan Safran Foer; Liev Schreiber
  • Producer: Kelley Cribben; Tom Karnowski

CGiii Comment

Scandalously ignored by Oscar...

A road movie that takes you from comedy through to heartbreak, effortlessly.

The colour, the tone, the charm and the kinks blend into a kaleidoscopic world of human history.

This should not have been ignored by The Academy.

A wondrous film.


Trailer...

 

The(ir) Blurb...

A young Jewish American flies to Ukraine in search of his grandfather's past. He has a photograph and the name of a village. He hires Odessa Heritage Tours, made up of a gruff old man and his English-speaking grandson. The three, plus grandfather's deranged dog, travel in an old car from Odessa into Ukraine's heart. Jonathan, the American, is a collector, putting things he finds into small plastic bags, so he will remember. Alex, the interpreter, is an archetypal wild and crazy guy. Alex asks the old man, "Was there anti-Semitism in the Ukraine before the war?" Will they find the village? The past illuminates everything.

Cast & Characters

Eugene Hutz as Alex;
Elijah Wood as Jonathan Safran Foer;
Jonathan Safran Foer as Leaf Blower;
Jana Hrabetova as Jonathan's Grandmother;
Stephen Samudovsky as Jonathan's Grandfather Safran;
Ljubomir Dezera as Young Jonathan;
Oleksandr Choroshko as Alexander Perchov, Father;
Gil Kazimirov as Igor;
Zuzana Hodkova as Alex's Mother;
Mikki as Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.;
Mouse as Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.;
Boris Leskin as Grandfather;
Robert Chytil as Breakdancer;
Jaroslava Sochova as Woman on Train;
Sergei Ryabtsev as Ukrainian Band Member