Review of Everything Is Illuminated (2005) by Reed W — 17 May 2009

I'm sure this is a great book, but it should never have been turned into a film. This possibly could have worked as a short film, but as a feature, it just doesn't work out. At an hour and 40 minutes it still seems too long.

So many shots drag on with nothing interesting happening. Lots of filler shots of random scenery or Elijah Wood looking goofy and staring at something that is pretentiously symbolic. The film tries way too hard to be quirky just to be quirky.

The soundtrack is distracting and annoying. The acting is fairly decent and there are a few moments that work really well. As the film went on though, I just disliked it more and more. I don't know what the movie wanted me to feel.

There was hardly enough direction of any sort. It seems like Liev Schreiber just had the cameras rolling and told the actors to "go".