EVERYTHING is ILLUMINATED or How I discovered GOGOL BORDELLO!
Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe “We will meet someone when we are supposed to meet”? Let me apply that theory to movies. I sometimes feel some movies come into our lives exactly when we are supposed to. Not before, not after. After all if some of us had not seen the right film at the right time we would not have left everything to chase our dreams in technicolor.
The reason i’m saying all this is because last night I was blown away by the film EVERYTHING IS ILLUMUNITED. Its a 2006 film. I remember seeing the trailer & decided to let it pass. I feared it might be too arty farty in a pretentious way or too smarty pants.I have seen this DVD at my local library from time to time but never picked it up. This weekend when I was at the library I finally did take it more because of have seen most other films there than the desire to watch this film…. And then I watched it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tSUOYY4oukc
The film is based on the book with the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer. Its the story of a young Jewish-american guy’s search for the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazi’s in ukraine during the War. Its more like a road movie. His Ukrainian hosts are
1) Alex - A premium Ukranian guy who loves american pop-culture, esp the negros.
2) Alex’s crazy anti-semetic grandfather who “thinks” he is blind. Hence the need for the third character in the form of
3)”Seeing Eye Bitch” - a demented dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.
The book has been acclaimed as a work of genius. It was reccomended to me by my ukranian friend when the film came out. But no one said anything about the film. I wasn’t interested in watched another film about another “Jewish American Kid searching for his roots in the Eastern Block”. But I have to say its a great film. It is one of the finest adaptations i have seen in recent years. I thought the script was just perfect. They added & delected things from the book which worked perfectly. It is one of the best directorial debuts by an actor in recent years. I have not seen much of Liev Schreiber’s work but I didn’t expect such a great film from him. The script sure helped.
Acting was on the mark by everyone. The grandfather is hilariously deranged. Eliah Wood plays the passive & scarred american tourist perfectly. But the real star & hero of the film is Alex. He steals the movie from everybody. It helps that the film is narrated by him also. Alex is played brilliantlly by Eugene Hutz. And thats how I discovered his genius.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Jv3b0VKec8&feature=related
Eugene is the father of GOGOL BORDELLO, a NY Gypsy Punk Rock Band. He is also a DJ & now an actor. His personal story turned out to be more fascinating than the film itself. His family fled Ukraine during the Chernobyl meltdown. They reached US after surviving various refugee camps for seven years. He is also a groundbreaking DJ who has recidance at a Bulgarian bar MEHENATA. Liev met Hutz to discuss the music for the film & thats how he decided to cast him.
Also if you have seen Wristcutters, The Russian Rocktster character EUGENE who lives with his mom & dad is based on him.
I think the next New York PFC meet should happen at Mehenata. What say New York?
Filed Under
Movies
 1 readers recommend this post  Loading ... |
 Email This Post To Friends
|
|
Related Posts | |
7 Responses to “EVERYTHING is ILLUMINATED or How I discovered GOGOL BORDELLO!”
Leave a Reply
(Ref smilies)
Our Comments Policy : The following kinds of comments are troll capped, blocked and/or commenter's identity reported publicly: Verbal abuse, personal attacks, hate statements, spam, trolls, advertising. Please assist us in keeping the comments clean. Use the contact form to let us know if you find unwarranted comments on PFC. Thank you.
-
Advertisement
-
- Random thoughts on Yuv
- Dev.D- Emosional Aty
- An Interview With Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’s Dolly - Richa C
- SORRY
- The story of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi Reve
- Ada Music Review
- Ajay TG- Man With A Camera.
- Maharathi: Murder is in the Details (Zero Spoiler Review)
- Mukhbiir Versus Chamku – A toss-up between two lone rangers
- Random thoughts on Yuvvraaj
-
Advertisement
Hottest Today:
Recent Posts:
An american jew film actor is watching MTV. they show a film on Iraq youth. and how their colleges are being destroyed. one kid stands out. like it happens in docu’s. his name is Muthana Muhammad. he is searching the burnt streets for any books on films. american films. he likes angelina jolie as she has big lips. he wants to make hollywood films. the american jew actor is making a semi autobiographical film. retrospective. road film. elijah wood. Muthana is called over to assist on the sets in czech republic. thus begins ‘operation film maker’ .
the american jew actor director is liev schraber.
and the film is everything is illuminated.
start wearing purple!
i heard Everything was pretty bad so chose not to watch, but i heard Operation Filmmaker is really good, so I’m gonna have to watch both films now,
kinda like how i watched Boondock Saints so that i could really enjoy Overnight and the downfall of Troy Duffy.
I just watched a clip from Operation Filmmaker on youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF7jGTNb5cI
I will try to watch it soon. I remember reading about it somewhere but didnt give it much thought. Seemed like a clever idea which would get boring after 10 minutes.
What did you think of Gogol Bordello??
There is a documentary film about Eugene called The Pied Piper of Hützovina.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847511/
@Dabba
have you been to that Bulgarian Bar Mehenata?
Not yet mainak. will check out mehenata. i haven’t watched the clips above, so not familiar with gogol.
or may be how you guys spoke of the apoorva lakhia docu…i meant the one shot on the location of shootout..interesting thought though..
i watched first, to enjoy
second
1. superbad
2. Juno
failure
1. stardust
2. atonement
!!!!
1. goldmember
2. bobby
worked
works in crazy ways.
OF is one of those films which talk to you. so the reactions will vary. but I guess the flavor, language is very pro-viewer. its entertaining because there is no political commentary. at least i felt that way. it was my only induction into iraq war and jews and czech republic and foreign crews. may be not foreign crews, and how the expectation levels manifest into differences in working styles. talking about the film sparked off a discussion with a friend that last 14 miles. a synopsis from gene siskel:
“Not since Luis Buñuel have we had such a wonderful joke on do-gooder liberalism.”–Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix
“This is the story of how well-intentioned Americans try to intervene in the life of an Iraqi. And how nothing goes as planned.”–Thom Powers, Toronto International Film Festival program
An MTV segment on an Iraqi film student and his bombed-out Baghdad film school inspired actor Liev Schreiber to invite 25-year-old Muthana Mohmed to work as an intern on a Hollywood production shooting in Prague. A seeming golden opportunity and win-win scenario soon evolves into a careful-what-you-wish-for dilemma. A seriously bruised ego results when Mohmed is assigned as a bottom-rung gofer, and his benefactors are puzzled, then angered at his lack of ambition. With the production ending, his visa running out, Mohmed blows his big chance to edit the wrap-party gag reel, and the disillusioned filmmakers sink into a moral quagmire with a lame-duck intern on their hands.”
Also see Dhamma Brothers for some more cross-cultural fun.
I wanna watch:
California dreaming
Glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts
Shotgun Stories
Separate clutches of male progeny are spawned on two women by an Arkansas patriarch, the before-and-after traces of a born-again life. Three trailer-trash bad-boys known only as Son, Kid, and Boy, seal eternal enmity with their four shirt-and-tie-wearing half-brothers by crashing the funeral, where Son spits on the old man’s coffin. Hatred and snakelike cunning drive a clan feud to tragic heights in the sleepy streets of a town where the silence is broken only by the whistles of long-gone trains. An award-winning festival hit, SHOTGUN STORIES conjures up the mesmerizing saga of a family poisoned by the very blood they share.
http://www.artic.edu/webspaces/siskelfilmcenter/2008/june/6.html#anchor1