There are certain books that would seem unlikely candidates for a cinematic adaptation, and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated, with its ambitious narrative and playful linguistic agility, would seem to be one of them. Nevertheless, the actor Liev Schreiber has given it a try, both writing and directing this somewhat diluted ver sion of the original material.

The film tells of a young American man’s journey to Ukraine to search for the woman who saved his grandfather when the Nazis destroyed his village. Elijah Wood peers anxiously through jam-jar spectacles as Jonathan; his Ukrainian translator Alex is played by the gypsy-punk musician and first-time actor Eugene Hutz. To capture the essence of what was one of the great charms of the original book — Alex’s chaotic and anarchic grip of English — Schreiber gives Alex the film’s voiceover duties. To a certain extent, this works well. Hutz is the discovery of the film — a hugely charismatic figure whose laconic voiceover serves up many of the film’s laughs.

But this denies Jonathan a voice and as a consequence we get to know him only through Alex’s eyes. Wood fares worst in the film, his every scene shamelessly stolen by Hutz. Despite its flaws, this is a promising directorial debut from Schreiber.

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