Illuminated a quirky, enjoyable comedy

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By Linda Cook | Friday, September 8, 2006 11:33 PM CDT | () comments

One of the finest movies from 2005, Liev Schreiber’s “Everything is Illuminated” is a sort of Holocaust movie once-removed.

The narrator and one of the central characters is Alex (Eugene Hutz), a Ukranian who, along with his grandfather, who also is named Alex (Boris Leskin); and his dog, Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., take American Jews on journeys to to the home of their ancestors.

Qurkiness abounds. Younger Alex adores anything American, especially Michael Jackson. Alex the grandfather claims to be blind, but insists on driving. Together, they are Heritage Tours.

Elijah Wood plays strait-laced Jonathan, a quiet, bewildered American who is a collector — he stores bits and pieces of his life in zip-lock bags. Jonathan, a serious, studious fellow, is searching for the woman who saved his grandfather’s life. He has seen a photo of his grandfather with a mysterious woman, and he wants to find out who the woman was and how she knew his grandfather.

Jonathan doesn’t know what to make of his “tour guides,” who can’t understand him when he tells them that he is a vegetarian. He also breaks the news to the two, who don’t believe him, that Sammy Davis Junior was Jewish. On the group travels in search of a small Ukrainian village called Trachimbrod.

Younger Alex just keeps going along, putting his own interesting — and hilarious — skew on the English language. Just the fact that younger Alex is serving as a translator makes the movie worth seeing.

This is an interesting blend of movie genres. It’s a road movie, in which the characters go on a literal journey as well as a voyage of self-discovery. It’s also a fish-out-of-water comedy, in which Jonathan finds himself a stranger who touches the lives of those around him.

And it’s also simply a comedy, with characters whose personalities are strong, eccentric, frustrating and lovable simultaneously. It’s fascinating to see Wood, from “Lord of the Rings,” on a much different quest to uncover the truth about his own past

The last part of the movie is moving, emotional and dramatic. It’s a drastic tone change from the carefree oddball-humor tone with which Schreiber begins the film, and he makes the transition successfully, planting hints of what is to come along the way.

The movie is a joy — a road trip that’s well worth your trip to see.

Linda Cook reviews movies for the Quad-City Times and KWQC-TV6. Contact her at (563) 383-2400 or lcook@qctimes.com.

MOVIE GUIDE

“Everything is Illuminated”

HHH1/2 (out of ofur)

Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Rated: PG-13 for adult images and themes, sexual situations and foul language.

Stars: Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz, Boris Leskin and Laryssa Lauret.

Screenwriter and director: Liev Schreiber, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.