World of KJ
http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/

Everything is Illuminated. Liev Schreiber directorial debut.
http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10581		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  dolcevita [ Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Everything is Illuminated. Liev Schreiber directorial debut.
Anyone heard anything about this film yet?

The first time I learned of Schreiber was in his turn in Demme's version of Manchurian Candidate. He's retty striking. I liked his intensity so went back and looked at his previous roles. He hasn't done that much. Most noteably he was in The Hurricane too.

I always find the actor-cum-director to be interesting to follow. Mostly because it goes to well when it works, and horrifically when it doesn't. Think of Redford, Eastwood, all these guys who were big actors first. I know Washington tried after his Oscar win to use the support to direct Johnny Q as well? But Schreiber's a real unknown to be picking this one up.

It's the story of a man who tries to find a woman who saved his grandfather in Poland during a Nazi extermination. Its apparently based off of a well-known book, which, coincidentally, I just saw the computer lab security student reading. I was going to ask her how the book was.

Quote:


Based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, "Everything is Illuminated" tells the story of a young man's quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazi invasion.

What starts out as a journey to piece together one family’s story under the most absurd circumstances turns into a surprisingly meaningful journey with a powerful series of revelations -- the importance of remembrance, the perilous nature of secrets, the legacy of the Holocaust, the meaning of friendship and, most importantly, love.

-- © Warner Independant Pictures


That's the most I can learn of it. Its not too much information considering the release date, Sept. 16th, isn't too far away.
Author:  Chippy [ Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
See the sig ;)

It stars Elijah Wood... correct?
Author:  dolcevita [ Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:28 pm ]
Post subject: 
Chipy, have you heard any news about it?

I've dug up some stills:

Image

Image

Image

Image

[img]
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/downl ... oup2/7.jpg[/img]

Hutz looks alot like Turturro. I was about to say how often John and Buschemi (yes, i group them together for some reason) are overlooked, and how he has done dozens of movies, and some of them with lead or large supporting roles. Anyways, this turn may be a promise of subtle dramatic acting I haven't seen from him since Do the Right Thing and Miller's Crossing. But scrap that, this is an unknown. Maybe it'll be a big breakthrough? But I doubt it. So its turning out to be a real pull for Wood as the only cast member with a big name here.

I almost didn't recognize Wood in these photos either. What a turn-around since I haven't seen him since Lord of the Rings.

This movie looks very promising, but i do hope Liev doesn't make his representation of Poland too chintzy...a suspicion i'm getting with the tuba and accordian present of the platform.
Author:  andaroo1 [ Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
You cannot go to Oscarwatch without being devoured by fangirls anticipating this movie.
Author:  Jeff [ Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:32 pm ]
Post subject: 
Woah, that's Elijah Wood?

Looks interesting, my biggest concern is the film will end up being to sentimental? Maybe focus to much on the emotional content that it won't succeed in telling a good story? Am I making sense here?
Author:  dolcevita [ Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
RogueCommander wrote:
Woah, that's Elijah Wood?

Looks interesting, my biggest concern is the film will end up being to sentimental? Maybe focus to much on the emotional content that it won't succeed in telling a good story? Am I making sense here?


Yeah, that's my fear too. That's what I meant by chinzy. Sort of uber-sentimentalism that goes so overboard it kills a good story. I don't want a forced tear jerker. In all fairness though, I'm not getting that feel at all. Mostly because even the plot summary provided by the distributer says the situations get absurd (I have a certain like for slapstick when it takes on this form). It does say this is ultimately a story that involvs love and friendship (yikes) but lets hope it handled smartly since discussions of rembrance have become a new topic. Really the emphasis used to be remeber it and lately its moved far enough away that we can also start analyzing how that memory is constructed. The new layer has been added.

Rembrance of the Holocaust in general is really at a turnpoint right now with the last hiding Nazi's and also almost all the survivors, dieing or old age. It actually came up in Walk on Woater that is still in limited run right now.

I like Wood quite a bit, and he really takes his time between movies and explores new roles. There is also a book that is at the source of this, so its not like Liev will be ad-libbing. That actually encourages me, because if the book had been sentimentalist crap, it would have never become popular enough ( I think it made the BestSeller list) to garner the attention of being made into a movie. That's really my number one source of faith right there. So here's hoping....
Author:  Jeff [ Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
Just picking out one of your points to comment on for now...

Elijay Wood has been mostly hit or miss in my opinion. He was of course good in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically the last installment. His performance in Sin City though was somewhat dissapointing, though he wasn't given much to work with, and of course I was not a fan of the movie overall. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he delivered a good, but unspectacular performance, certainly not Oscar worthy, but not bad.

I was thinking he was in another film, Wonder Boys but that was Tobey Maguire. Terrible film by the way. :wink:
Author:  Goldie [ Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:11 pm ]
Post subject: 
I think he also wrote it - Nice to see one writing and directing but not having to act in it also. Most have to write themselves a part.

*****************

Also he played the husband when Diane Lane left him to have an affair with Viggo M.

Forget the name - might have been - A Walk on the Moon.

******************
Author:  Chippy [ Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
The only news/time I ever heard about this was in my premiere magazine about a month ago, I think. But I'm a sucked for Elijah Wood cause I think he picks good roles... Very Johnny Depp-ish.
Author:  dolcevita [ Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:22 am ]
Post subject: 
ChipMunky wrote:
The only news/time I ever heard about this was in my premiere magazine about a month ago, I think. But I'm a sucked for Elijah Wood cause I think he picks good roles... Very Johnny Depp-ish.


Yeah. I was about to return to rogues comment about Wood being Hit or Miss, with something along this line. It may not necessarily be that he always pulls off a role, is a good match, or well, even a main character, but he always picks interesting movies. I've never seen him in a movie I really walked away from feeling insulted by. All the movies you mentioned Rogue, are still very high caliber, and he's done alot on the indie scene that deal with pretty dark themes.

There are a few older actors I follow for pretty much the same reason, and its a castmember that drew me to History of Violence more than the director or source material because of it.

I was trying to find book reviews to give us a sense of the material, and I found some that commented on the narrative voice. For one thing, the author named the lead character after himself, even though technically its not an autobiography. I'll post it up soon, but I wonder if Liev is going to try and maintain the voice the book has or just go with a nice third person?
Author:  kypade [ Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:26 am ]
Post subject: 
The book is amazing. Really, really, good. But l can't imagine it working to well as a film. :oops: l dunno. l'll definitely check it out, if only out of curiousity. yknow.
Author:  David [ Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:50 am ]
Post subject: 
I am definitely interested in this. Though I should possibly be ashamed of this, in the late 90s, I was absolutely in love with Robert Rodriguez's high-school-teacher-actually-is-an-alien thriller THE FACULTY and I've been a fan of Elijah's since. He's led a very interesting career and I personally am a fan. He's not always in great movies (James Toback's BLACK AND WHITE, FLIPPER, NORTH) but he usually delivers a fine performance. (He so should've gotten some award buzz for the amazingly underrated THE BUMBLEBEE FLIES ANYWAY, which should've been sent to theatres not Starz!)

And this sounds very interesting too. Seemingly has the potential to be a very powerful and moving film with humor and drama. And if its a little too tearjerker-y, well, whats wrong with the occasional tearjerker? If done right, I don't mind if a movie gets me teary-eyed. Just as long as Elijah isn't knifed and we don't see an army of people holding candles outside his mom's house. :wink: I certainly hope it opens here in Annapolis, MD. If it does, I'll give it a shot.
Author:  dolcevita [ Wed Aug 03, 2005 1:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
http://www.film-releases.com/movies/fil ... ed_id=4409


PG-13 rating. DOn't know how I feel about that. BUt I guess this might deal with spoken issues rather than visually showing them, so may not illicit an R.

The Poster is out too: Image
Author:  kypade [ Sat Aug 06, 2005 1:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
Trailer:
http://latinoreview.com/films_2005/wip/ ... nated.html

looks good. gives me hope. appears to be pretty close to the book. Well, kinda. Dunno. Could work.
Author:  thompsoncory [ Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:07 am ]
Post subject: 
Looks a little weird for my taste. I'll rent it at most.
Author:  dolcevita [ Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:46 pm ]
Post subject: 
Saw the trailer attached to Broken Flowers. Parts of it looked alright...other parts looked like a typical color/flower/whatever rip-off of American Beauty. We all know where that went in hero. Directors have to cut it out with those deep flower scenes and just let us remember Wizard of oz in peace. otherwise, it looked like it could be great/ Basically, I liked the storyline, but here's hoping the director emphasized the strengths rather than weaknesses of a story about memory, and personal/cultural identity.
Author:  A. G. [ Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:06 am ]
Post subject: 
So this is what Liev is doing when he should be making action movies like Sum of All Fears. Sigh.
Author:  Dkmuto [ Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:01 am ]
Post subject: 
Anyone ever see it? Dolce?

I just watched it and was thoroughly surprised. I think it's one of last year's better films.
Author:  Jeynu1 [ Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
I know this thread was started a while back, but I just saw the dvd release recently and I absolutely LOVE this film. It is a bit peculiar, but it is really beautifully done! The acting, directing, cinematography - loved them all.
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/