Cast & Credits Jonathan: Elijah Wood Alex: Eugene Hutz Alex's Grandfather: Boris Leskin Lista: Laryssa Lauret Warner Independent Pictures presents a film written and directed by Liev Schreiber. Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Running time: 104 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for disturbing images/violence, sexual content and language).

[Liev Schreiber took a chance] when he directed “Everything is Illuminated,” starring Elijah Wood as a solemn young man who goes to the Ukraine to thank the woman who saved his grandfather’s life, and meets two half-crazy guides who specialize in “tours of dead Jews.” There is the old grandfather (Boris Leskin) and his grandson (Eugene Hutz), an actor who sings with a gypsy punk band and is in his first movie.

The film begins as a screwball comedy and finds a trajectory straight to the beating heart of truth, and how Schreiber controls that tonal shift in his directorial debut is hard to say, but he does. I went to see the film a second time because I felt I had been paying the wrong kind of attention when I saw a screening a month ago, and I was right about being wrong. Yes, I gave it thumbs up on TV, but I wasn’t focused on its greatness. I think it helps to see it twice, to understand the journey it takes.
-- Roger Ebert, reporting from the 2005 Toronto Film Festival