Review of Everything Is Illuminated (2005) by Jarred K — 23 Nov 2010

Quick Review:

This film borders on being good, and even dabbles in honest emotion and genuinely original philosophic insight into the importance of the past. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel that it's overall wishy-washy-ness might have been done away with and its flaws buffed out had a more accomplished director been at the helm. That being said, this is an impressive debut effort from Liev Schreiber.

As mentioned before, the film is wishy-washy. It is slow-moving (often a good trait in many great films) but in a non-contemplative way, with strange unfinished gestures and stares between the main actors which prove more annoying and elusive than artistic by any means. The visuals are fantastic, the landscape cinematography proving utterly beautiful, but then as if by an intentionally malicious turn, the camerawork debases itself to a film-school level in scenes of intense emotional character interaction. The acting is all decent, Elijah Wood proved better than I expected him to be, but nonetheless none of it is amazing and most of it feels like a bad kitch version of "Borat" meets "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.".

And lastly we come to the story. Moving almost to the point of tears (for me, at least), the script deals beautifully with the significance of the holocaust, and its effects both past and present. It is deeply emotionally moving, and for a few brief moments it has scenes akin to those from "Schindler's List." Nonetheless, as mentioned before about the slow-moving nature, it ultimately fails to maintain any emotional, spiritual, or philosophical significance at any other time than during the climactic scene and the final lines of the film.

Ultimately, "Everything is Illuminated" proves to be worth a watch (I would even recommend a watch), but if you're an avid cinephile don't expect greatness from Mr. Schreiber as a director just yet...and don't expect this to become a new quirky favorite. I guarantee that other great quirky films out there exist - I can even recommend a few.