Everything Is Illuminated (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Everything Is Illuminated


caption = "Everything Is Illuminated" movie poster
director = Liev Schreiber
producer = Marc Turtletaub
Peter Saraf
Matthew Stillman
writer = Screenplay by Liev Schreiber Based on the Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer
starring = Elijah Wood
Eugene Hütz
Boris Leskin
Laryssa Lauret
music = Paul Cantelon
cinematography = Matthew Libatique
editing = Andrew Marcus
Craig McKay
distributor = Warner Independent Pictures
released = September 16, 2005
runtime = 106 mins.
country = USA
language = English, Russian, Ukrainian
budget = 7,000,000 $
uS box office = 1,705,595 $
imdb_id = 0404030

"Everything Is Illuminated" is a 2005 adventure/comedy/drama, written and directed by Liev Schreiber and starring Elijah Wood and Eugene Hütz. It was adapted from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, and was the debut film of Liev Schreiber both as a director and as a screenwriter [ [http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=152820 Everything Is Illuminated Review] "Channel 4".] .

Plot

A young American Jewish man, Jonathan, goes on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town called Trachimbrod that was wiped off the map when the Nazis liquidated Eastern European shtetls. His guides are a cranky anti-semitic grandfather and his over-enthusiastic grandson, whose fractured command of English, passion for American pop culture, and constant chatter threaten to make the worst of every situation. But what starts out as the tour from hell turns into a meaningful journey, with an unexpected series of revelations that will change all of their lives [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/movies/16illu.html Overview and Movie Review] "New York Times".] .

Cast

* Jonathan Safran Foer: Elijah Wood
* Alex: Eugene Hütz
* Grandfather: Boris Leskin
* Lista: Laryssa Lauret
* Alex's Mother: Zuzana Hodkova
* Goatherder: Elias Bauer
* Band Member: Yuri Lemeshev
* Drummer: Pamela Racine
* Leaf Blower: Jonathan Safran Foer

Music

"Everything Is Illuminated"'s score features eight original tracks composed by Paul Cantelon [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THSJ4DZAVTc "Everything is Illuminated" Soundtrack] ] , along with songs by Russian ska punk band Leningrad, Arcady Severny,Csókolom, Tin Hat Trio and Gogol Bordello, whose lead singer plays Alex. DeVotchKa's single "How It Ends" is featured in the trailer, but not in the official soundtrack.

Differences between the film and the book

* In the film, Alex smacks Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr., and he is then assaulted by his grandfather. This does not take place in the book.
* The book involves an additional plot line regarding much of the complex back story to the present. The film focuses on the present time and vastly alters this other plot line.
*In the book, Alex's grandfather was forced by the Nazis to choose between his own life and his best friend's, and due to his pain and fear, he covers it by taking on the persona of being anti-semitic. In the movie, he is portrayed as having survived the massacre by pretending to be dead, then assumed a new identity to hide the fact that he himself was Jewish.
* Near the end of the book, Alex's father leaves the family. In the film, he plays a much smaller role and is seen at the interment of his father.
* The roads pictured in the movie look brand new, as the film was shot in the Czech Republic and not Ukraine.
* In the movie, Lista is portrayed as Augustine's sister. In the book, Lista is not related to Augustine and does not know her.
* In the movie, Alex refers to Jonathan as "The Collector" rather than "The Hero". Also, Jonathan plays down being a writer in the film, but in the novel he says that he feels sometimes that he was "born to write."
* Alex's grandfather is a Christian in the book, whereas in the movie he is a Jew.
* In the movie there is a scene when they sleep outside, whereas in the book there is not.
* There is a scene in the movie in which a little goat herding boy asks for gum and lets the air out of their tires. This scene is not in the book.
* In the movie, Alex's grandfather commits suicide during their trip by slitting his wrists in a bathtub, while in the book, he does not commit suicide until later, after Jonathan has returned to the USA.

Critical response

"American Chronicle" recounted the film as one of the "rare films that encapsulate the emotion of discovery and drama with humor. Particularly on the sensitive subject of genocide and the Holocaust." [ [http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/19430 Everything Is Illuminated] ] , while "Time Out" called it, "an unbelievably assured debut as a director". [ [http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/83009/Everything_Is_Illuminated.html Everything Is Illuminated (2005)] "Time Out".] .

Awards

* 2005: Lanterna Magica Prize: Venice Film Festival: Liev Schreiber
* 2005: Biografilm Award: Venice Film Festival: Liev Schreiber
* 2005: Best Screenplay: São Paulo International Film Festival: Liev Schreiber

References

External links

* [http://wip.warnerbros.com/everythingisilluminated/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0404030|title=Everything Is Illuminated
*
* [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050922/REVIEWS/50919003/1023 Roger Ebert's review of Everything Is Illuminated]