Everything is Illuminated (2005)

Jonathan Safran Foer (Elijah Wood) puts himself in the hands of Heritage Tours, consisting of Alex, Alex's "blind" grandfather, and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., their insane "seeing eye bitch," when he travels to the Ukraine in search of family history.

The screenplay wisely chops out the book's flashbacks detailing the early days of Trachimbrod (the city for which the protagonist is searching) and focuses on the present-day journey. It basically ends up being a fun roadtrip movie with a powerful and sobering climax. Somehow, though, the journey felt too short and too slight to have paid off so richly.

B-