Everything Is Illuminated

Herald rating: * *

Jonathan (Elijah Wood) is an obsessive collector, a neurotic who wears black suits and thick glasses. When his dying grandmother sends him an old photo of his grandfather in Ukraine, standing next to an unknown woman, Jonathan goes to Ukraine to find her - and his past.

His guides will be Alex, a Michael Jackson fanatic, and his grumpy Grandpa, who pretends to be blind and takes his "guide" dog, Sammy Davis Junior Junior, everywhere on their road trip through the decades and a strange land.

Quirky, at times laugh-out-loud funny, but too contrived to be great. The DVD offers 18 minutes of deleted scenes.

DVD, video rental out now