In his behind-the-camera debut, Liev Schreiber brings Jonathan Safran Foer's ambitious 2001 novel "Everything Is Illuminated" to the screen in a considerably scaled down version that still effectively retains the book's warm eccentricity and gently persuasive sentimentality. A richly observed story about roots and identity that embraces a number of universal truths within a plot line haunted by the Holocaust, the film was screened in Telluride during the weekend and is next headed to the Toronto International Film Festival before getting an early awards season start Sept. 16. With a nontraditional tone that makes it feels much more like a foreign-language release than a U.S. production, "Illuminated" will require savvy marketing that if done right, combined with good word-of-mouth, could pave the way for a bright future.

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