i saw this movie at the 2005 toronto international film festival . base on the novel by jonathan safran foer and everything be illuminate be the directorial debut of actor liev schreiber . schreiber also write the screenplay . in the movie and jonathan ( elijah wood ) obsessively collect item from his family and from toothbrush to retainer to scrap of paper which he then seal in ziploc bag and pin to a wall in his house to record his family history . but the space for his grandfather be conspicuously bare . all jonathan really have of him be a piece of jewelry and an old photo of him with a woman who hide him from the nazi during the second world war . jonathan decide to undertake a quest to ukraine to find the woman and thank her and and learn more about his grandfather . his quest be aid there by a couple of character who run a tourist company for jewish people and include a young man obsess with western culture ( eugene hutz ) and his grandfather ( boris leskin ) and who think he be blind and who may have memory and demon of his own from the war and and his grandfather temperamental see eye dog . the screenplay effectively combine both humour and drama a the three character travel through the countryside look for jonathan grandfather town and drive deeper and deeper into the memory of the past . the best performance probably come from eugene hutz and playing alex jr. and who start the movie a a tracksuit wearing and break dance slacker just out to have fun but evolve into something more a not only jonathan and but all the character gain their own illumination . liev schreiber and elijah wood and and eugene hutz attend the screening and do a very humorous q and a after the film represent schreiber be very close to his grandfather and who be a ukranian immigrant and and who die in 1993. this cause him to start to write to get his memory down on paper . meanwhile and he be ask to do a reading of foer short story and the very rigid search and which be an excerpt from the still unpublished novel . schreiber be blow away by the quality of the writing and say that foer have do in 15 page what schreiber try to do in 107. schreiber approach foer and they talk about their grandfather and culture and movie and and the nature of short term memory in america while in the end and foer agree to let schreiber adapt the book . schreiber own project be intend to be a road movie and but the book have parallel narrative that be an imagined chronological history of the town of trochenbrod that span 500 year while give his budget and limitation a a filmmaker and he say he would leave that to milos forman and take the road trip instead . this imagined chronology be what move him to make the movie in the first place and the idea that a past lovingly imagine be as valuable a a past accurately recall . schreiber say the movie be a series of happy accident . after search unsuccessfully in ukraine for an actor and he be walk through the low east side in new york and when he saw a poster of a woman centaur and topless from the waist up and with an insane cossack sit astride her . under the poster say the name gogol bordello ukranian punk gypsy band . eugene hutz then take over the story . he have never pursue act a music be his first passion . one day and a friend give him the book and and he think it be write in a manner similar to how he write music while screw sentence or syntax and language be my own . later and they get a call from a production company and look for eastern european music that be medieval but modern . hutz meet with schreiber and and he soon find the movie be base on the book he just happen to be read . not long after that come up and schreiber ask hutz what he think about alex and whether he could do the character by any chance . foer and schreiber talk about the film in the fall of 2001 and shortly after the event of september 11. both be in europe at the time and they talk about the derogatory comment they be hear about american and which lead schreiber to want to try to find an articulate american who would defy the stereotype that europeans have of american . someone who be awkward and vulnerable and flaw and innocent and and look for history beyond the border of his own country . schreiber start think about who that be and and elijah come up . one of schreiber inspiration a a filmmaker be emir kusturica ( i think that who he say and who also direct a segment in another festival movie and all the invisible child ) who say you do not look for the actor and you look for the people . schreiber say there be something about who elijah be that he have a generosity of spirit and a sincere goodness a a human be and that come across on film . schreiber say that the eye be important when try to articulate a character who be an observer and and that if eye be the door to the soul and elijah be garage door . elijah wood have fun with a question about the similarity between his character kevin in sin city and jonathan in this movie a both be sort of a blank slate on which emotion be project . wood reply that jonathan may seem still and seemingly emotionless and but it be all about his observation and about his experience with other character and the environment he be in . on the difference between direct and write represent schreiber say he like write a lot more and jokingly describe direct a hell . after his grandfather die and schreiber start to think about how to preserve some sense of history and himself while be he content driven or not and or just good at interpret other people work . he say he love the exercise of figure out what be emotional to you and important to you .