Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

lisacampbell2 I saw this at the film festival here and the audience really enjoyed it, myself included. I didn't realize until the credits that it was directed by actor Liev Schreiber (and in fact that it is the first feature film he has directred), and well done to him because this is a very good film, especially for a first time director's work.The acting is also very well done. I think he deserved awards for his work as the offbeat young man trying to track down strange people in a strange place. The movie has a lot of comedy but also heart. I think in places it drags a bit or gets a bit too silly, so the script isn't perfect but it is overall a very enjoyable movie going experience.

Catwings This movie gave me a big laugh from the first half of the story, then turned out to be a serious and heartbreaking historical drama towards the end. Elijah Wood, who played an Jewish American man with a OCD-like compulsion, did a great job. His road trip fellow, Alex (played by Eugene Hutz) is wonderful in portraying a hip-hop-loving Ukrainian guy who speaks English with a funny accent. I loved how he translates in English with a sprinkle of jokes and sarcasm towards Americans. I think the screenwriter did some research to create unique English sentences which often happens when non-English speakers speak English.A young American guy named Jonathan, played by Elijah Wood, is a collector who always brings small plastic bags to collect anything whenever he finds things that are meaningful. With a pendant he collected when his grandfather died and a picture when his grandmother dies, he flies to Ukraine to find the root of his family and a Ukrainian village. He hires Odessa Heritage Tour, run by an old Ukrainian man Alexander (Oleksandr Choroshko) who claims he is blind (but is not). Along with his English-speaking grandson, Alex (played by Eugene Hutz) and Alexander's clinging guided dog, a strange road trip starts. While looking for a Ukrainian village called Trachimbrod, Alexander's old memory comes back which helps Jonathan find a historical background hidden in the picture and the relationship between his grandfather and grandmother.The story has a little puzzle that took me time to resolve, such as where Jonathan's grandmother met his grandfather, where his grandmother died, how grandmother's sister kept the grandmother's ring, etc. While the story depicts a cruel history around the Nazi's conquest in Ukraine and how his grandfather survived his life, the tone of the story is somehow poetic and aesthetic which makes the film impressive. When Augustine's sister was told that the war was over, everything was solved as if a tangled thread got loosen, and Jonathan's investigation put an end to the story and so did Alexander's. The movie also tells that one cannot choose a place to be born, so you could be someone else in another country.I marked this movie in my watchlist in 2005, and finally had the mood and time to watch it. I feel time passed so quickly.

Austin Takahashi "Everything is Illuminated" is a movie about memories and the things that certain people do with them. Some treasure each memory with zeal and optimism; others spend a lifetime filtering every dark moment with a hope of never having to suffer in remembrance of it. So many things can happen to us, both good and bad, and it's not unusual to occasionally wish that we can control our ability to remember, and forget.Elijah Wood stars as Jonathan, a Jewish-American who is about to travel to Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his grandfather's life during the Second World War. His eyes are magnified by his thick glasses and his hair is cautiously combed, which rightfully matches his black suite. Our first impression of Jonathan is a man who is curious and disciplined. We are even hinted that he has an obsessive-compulsive nature the first time we see a wall in his home almost completely covered with plastic bags containing items that is there to simply remind him.While Jonathan is yet to arrive, we are introduced to a Ukrainian family whose business is to help Jews find the place where their ancestors have perished. This is where the movie suddenly adapts a comedic tone. The eldest son is Alex, who is the film's narrator. His skills in English are lacking in an appealing way. He claims to be a "premium" dancer, and is not very excited to learn that he must accompany his grandfather in "the commencement of a very rigid search." Because Grandfather, the designated driver of the search, claims to be blind, they bring along Sammy Davis Junior Jr. He is the official "seeing eye bitch". I kinda love these guys.Read more here: http://localmoviereview.com/everything-is-illuminated/

gimbarton I found this movie very interesting and emotional, although you did not know exactly, should you laugh or cry or pull out your hair in frustration, because it is all so confusing.I enjoyed the "trip" the "bad English" and everything in between. I would have absolutely been exstatic, if the relationships between the characters would have been more clear, but, maybe I am just "slow".If one is allowed, can anyone tell me, if Jonathan was related to the old man and Alex? ...was his grandfather the brother of the old Man? Was Augustine the sister of the "old woman"...was the old woman the young woman witnessing the young man surviving and was she hiding him?As you see, I am left with so many questions....I probably have to buy the book.Which means, the movie was very interesting, and beautiful.