Everything is illuminated

I used to be a collector. Back when I was a kid, I used to save everything I would consider worth saving, which was pretty much any piece of crap you would think of: Stones, soda cans, toiletries from hotels, fliers, flower seeds, and so on. My favorites were the free toys from Sabritas' bags of chips (which included Disney plastic figurines, The Thundercats, Flinstones holograms).

So I couldn't help but feeling related to Jonathan (Elijah Woods, yes, Frodo himself), the main character of the movie, this jewish guy who is a restless collector of items that belonged to some family member, and hangs them in a wall.

After his grandfather passed away, he sets off to on a trip to Russia to find the whereabouts of a lady that supposedly helped his grandfather to escape the nazis and make it to America.

I loved the scenery, where most of the movie develops, following the long roadtrip in an old tourist car through the russian countryside. The dialogs between Jonathan and Alex, his translator, are hilarious, mostly because of the funny interpretations.

One thing I tought it was funny, is how much Frodo, I mean, Elijah Woods reminds me (visually, and sometimes also personality wise) of his other character in Sin City which have nothing in common and at the same time, look so much alike!!!, judge yourself, left is his Sin City character, the cannibal Kevin, and on the right is Jonathan, who ironically enough is a vegetarian lol :

So anyway, the movie is a nice comedy that kept me interested all of the time, the story develops at a good space, narrated by Alex, the translator. It's a great story about people who live in the past, and also about people who has left the past behind. "Everything is illuminated in the light of the past, which is inside us looking out" -says Alex.

Something that really got me was the soundtrack. What an amazing selection of russian folk music. The song from the credits is awesome "start wearing purple", some mash-up of world beat, ska, and russian folk. The name of the band is Gogol Bordello, and you can go here if you want to check it out.