Jonathan is a lifelong collector of any and all objects pertaining to his family, and he has become obsessed with a woman he's never met. The woman saved the life of his grandfather Safran during World War II, when the city in the Ukraine where he was born was destroyed by Nazi troops. Wanting to know more about the woman, Jonathan flies to the Ukraine, where with the help of a driver who has claimed to be blind since his wife's death, a good-natured but tongue-tied tour guide and translator named Alex, and a dog named Sammy Davis Junior Junior, he searches for the meaning of the present that lies buried in the past, unexpectedly shedding the same such light on the lives of those around him.
This is a very boring film until the very end when everything comes together. The first 90 minutes, however, is so painfully slow that I was starting to feel sleepy. That being said, the story is about the Holocaust and seems so personal that I felt a bit guilty that I was bored. Then I remembered, it's a movie based on a novel, so it's a work of fiction - although there's plenty of reality built in. But, being a movie, it's supposed to be entertaining, which it wasn't. It was so dry and bland that it was tough to swallow. The only saving grace is Alex (the tour guide and translator) who is funny, energetic and provides a bit of light in an overall black hole of a film.
Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz, Boris Leskin
I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.
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