IMDb plot summary: A young Jewish American man, with the help of an eccentric local, endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village that was ultimately razed by the Nazis.
Directed by Liev Schreiber. Stars Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz, and Boris Lyoskin.
Everything Is Illuminated follows a young American, played by Elijah Wood, who travels to Ukraine in search of some of the characters he has heard about from his family history. He is guided along his journey by an ambitious but eccentric local and his even more eccentric grandfather. The film is exactly what it looks like it's going to be: quirky (maybe too quirky for its own good), and ultimately hopeful and warmhearted despite its frequently dark subject matter. Its stylized visuals, dry humor, and editing choices feel very much like a director emulating Wes Anderson, and it carries with it that same sense of whimsy. Anderson usually takes that whimsy right up to the point of being exhausting but stops, while this one definitely crosses the line a few times. Still, there are moments of genuine beauty and emotional resonance scattered throughout, especially when the film quiets down and lets its story breathe instead of just be weird. It's a sweet, strange little movie, and I think it would have been exactly my jam in my college years, but now it feels dated and uneven, with a few good moments scattered throughout.
How it entered my Flickchart:
🎥 Everything Is Illuminated (2005)
📊 Ranked #1973/4072 on my Flickchart
🎯 Flickscore™: 51
lost to Wonder Man (#2032 → #1283)
beat Stagecoach (#3050 → #3049)
beat Rich and Strange (#2540 → #2984)
beat Planet 51 (#2286 → #2535)
beat In Search of a Midnight Kiss (#2159 → #2172)
beat The Lion in Winter (#2096 → #2161)
beat Liberal Arts (#2063 → #2059)
beat The Suburbans (#2047 → #2046)
beat The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#2039 → #2092)
lost to The King and I (#2035 → #1971)
beat Meet John Doe (#2037 → #2033)
beat America's Sweethearts (#2036 → #2031)
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