This is a beautiful, yet simple movie about one man, driven to find an answer, an answer he doesn't necessarily need but has structured his whole life around. It is heartrending, it is hilarious, it is glorious, it is tormenting, it is delicate and dynamic, I say it's genius.<br /><br />I have read Jonathan Safran Foer's book Everything is Illuminated (mainly because I heard Elijah Wood was starring in the movie adaptation), and I was just enraptured by the characters. I laughed out loud more than once. And every time someone talks about what it's about, I hear the same hackneyed response, almost like it's one big long word: "It'saboutaguylookingforthewomanwhosavedhisgrandpafromtheNazis." Yet, this story is so philosophical; it goes deeper than that. That conversation about the ring and "in case." It really gets one thinking. Suddenly, this story merges from a simple quest to an inner metamorphosis, and I find myself looking at things a bit differently now.<br /><br />I recommend renting this before, if ever, reading it, because the book had many obscene, downright perverted stories that were not included in the movie, mainly the history of Jonathan's family that was not necessary for the film. <br /><br />A bit of trivia, I heard, is that Wood's current girlfriend has a cameo in this flick as the drummer in the band that Alex arranges to perform as Jonathan steps off the train into Ukraine.<br /><br />You spend half of the movie trying to figure out what it's about, exactly, and what Jonathan is about, because his character is so withdrawn, like a turtle in a shell.<br /><br />It is magnificent, and in my opinion, one of Elijah Wood's best movies.