Everything is Illuminated is actor and first time writer/director Liev Schreiber's adaptation of Jonathan Safron Foer's celebrated (if not a bit overrated) novel of one young man's search (Elijah Wood) for the woman who helped his Grandfather escape the clutches of the Nazi's and escape to America during WWII. Wood is an odd and sometimes not so effective lead with his big Hobbity eyes magnified by a pair of huge glasses. He doesn't act so much as react, and as such is probably the most inert Leading Man I've ever seen in a film. He wears a suit and tie at all times - even when sleeping beneath the Ukrainian stars, which is where his journey leads him.

He contracts with a Odessa based Heritage tour that specializes in outings that revolve around the Holocaust and WWII. It is at this point that we meet Alex and his Grandfather. Alex is the narrator whose broken English is good for several laughs and his Grandfather claims to have been struck blind when he lost his wife - though he still drives the bus. Alex is played by Eugene Hutz - a fascinating character in real life who heads up a gypsy punk band in New York called Gogol Bordello that melds Polka, punk, gypsy and hip hop. Some of the funnier moments in the film involve Alex's way with the English language. Lines like "many women desire to be carnal with me because of my premium dancing."

Hutz narrates and at times seems more the protagonist than Wood (whose minimalism makes Bill Murray look like Jim Carrey in Pet Detective.) Shrieber takes a lighter approach to the material than Foer did in his book - which is surprising to me, because you'd think an actor turned first time director, would be more inclined to make it an acting-filled script, but instead is content with frame after frame of the Ukraine countryside accompanied by authentic local music. In fact the sooner you give up on Wood as the leading man the better off you'll be. Wood is a classic window character in which we are able to view the aftermath of a country and society that has had to cover it's tracks and hide it's evidence. Between the Grandfather, Alex , Wood and a dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. the foursome is complete as they set out to find a town that is nowhere to be found on any maps. This is obviously a literary set-up, but Shrieber manages to infuse it with a good deal of warmth, humor and poignant pathos.

Hutz and Wood do have several interesting moments, and at times the two make an interesting movie pair - ironically Hutz seems much more adept at handling the emotional weight toward the end of the movie. Once your eyes are that big, I guess they 're incapable of getting any bigger. Ultimately the film has a serious mission, which is to unearth Ukraine's involvement in the Holocaust. Both Grandfather and Grandson express a certain disdain for any American who would want to waste his time mucking about the wasteland of their cold and desolate country for such skullduggery. (After all they perceive America as the great promised land and whose culture Alex is in love with) But by the end there is a bittersweet resolution that makes the trip and the film worthwhile - and Wood's inert acting forgivable. Very lovable little film.