We actually had the choice between Deficit by Bernal and this movie on Spanish movie festival in KIev. I'm so glad we finally went for this one. Though I have never seen or heard of these actors they play brilliantly. The tragedy of usual lives, relationship bordering on friendship and love, loneliness, family ties and moral obligations - the movie manages to cover so much problems in such short timing. And of course the soundtrack, which I still hope to get somewhere, perfectly matches the action on the screen and sets just the right tone and mood to every scene. Being a tragic and sad movie it still has a very good sense of humor. Highly recommend this movie.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Everything Is Illuminated
(2005)
A nice try, but alas less than I expected
7 May 2006
I won't retell the plot, just my personal impressions. Firstly, the film makes a rather odd impression of Ukraine inhabited by former Jews and Russians, who try to speak both Ukrainian and Russian with a horrible American accent, where people are so hostile they won't tell you a single thing if you come from a big city such as Odessa (which actually has no beaches of soft as woman's hair sand, it has lots of narrow stripes of litter covered "beaches" with large boulders instead of sand) or KIev, where remnants of soviet and WW II lie here and there, with no airports( Alex goes to Lvov to take a train to the airport). The movie is filled with stereotypes which are no longer true. Another odd thing is that Alex arrives to Lviv and they meet him there though it's probably 400 km from Odessa to Lviv ( why wouldn't he just arrive at Odessa airport?) The movie is a mixture of some Shiendlers list, parody Kusturica films and facts about Ukraine probably 20 years old.
Tell Your Friends