Everything is Illuminated (2005) - Director - Liev Schreiber
A young Jewish-American man returns to Ukraine in search of a village, and the woman who helped his grandfather escape the Holocaust. Truly an excellent film. Elijah Wood--although far from a favorite of mine--performs flawlessly. He is funny, high maitnence, attached... very small... His performance is strong and talented, but remains in balance with the rest of the cast; who are also brilliant. The characters he comes in contact with: also very funny. The story is stable, the music is excellent, the characters are original, the comedy is excellent, and the drama is solid. This is exactly what I like in a film; a proportionate balance of humor and emotion. Excellent. My personal favorite film of 2005.
"Somebody told me when the bomb hits, everybody in a two mile radius will be instantly sublimated, but if you lay face down on the ground for some time, avoiding the residual ripples of heat, you might survive, permanently fucked up and twisted like you're always underwater refracted. But if you do go gas, there's nothing you can do if the air that was once you is mingled and mashed with the kicked up molecules of the enemy's former body. Big-kid-tested, motherf--ker approved."
