I do not know the novel. and this is the motif for see this film from the perspective of a East European, with Ukrainean roots, with few drops of Jewish blood, remembering the stories about ancestors of my grand mother. so, for me this film is special more for the story than for performances. because the meet with the past remains unique always. fascinating. seductive. fundamental. because the humor of film reminds the jokes and Hasidic stories and the songs from the old Jewish shtetl from Bukowina. because it is a fairy tale. as a clash between two civilizations. because it is bitter and hopeful and nostalgic, strange and useful. like a cup of black tea.so, for a part of public, an experience. for the others, a good film, I hope.

Jonathan Safran Foer (Elijah Wood) is a peculiar guy. He collects the most mundane everyday personal things. He is Jewish. After his grandfather's death, he goes to Ukraine in search of the ancestral home town of Trachimbrod. He hires an anti-semitic cranky old man and his American pop culture loving grandson Alex to guide him. Alex's translating ability is limited. History is long forgotten. Nobody has heard of the place he's looking for.Director Liev Schreiber is trying too hard to be quirky without actually achieving any laughs. It's weird for weird's sake. Schreiber doesn't have the necessary skills to make it fun. I sit there like Wood's character with his googly eyes staring unblinkingly. For the most part, the movie is a slow weird procession. Then the movie gets to the place and it achieves something poetic. I wonder if these characters are more real, would the story be more poignant? I think the story got a bit overwhelmed by the quirky mannerisms.

It was basically a movie about 1-cultural misunderstanding and how people can be cruel without really knowing it. 2-How important our past is and how it is responsible for our current situtaion/condition and how it effects our view-point. Jonathan safran was a curious and disciplined man who has an obsessive- compulsive nature.Through him and his journey to his past Movie tells us how our past effect our thoughts, our views.We are unaware about the reasons behind the happenings of everything in your life.Why certain things effects you but some not?Actually we all unknowingly carry our past somewhere inside us or within our memory all along with us in our journey of life and this inside phenmenon effects our outside world which is called "Inside-Out".Most of us simply says "Past is just Past".But actually Past is the base/responsible factor of our present.We should know our past and analyze it deeply becuz this'past/memory' is what we all achieves in our life.Whatever You gain, you gain Inside.Freedom is not an external thing, it's an internal thing.At last I can say it was a very delicate and deep movie,It touches your heart.The scene where they finally found Trachimbrod is painful and gravely affecting.Past has the power to make the world a better place as after knowing the past of jews. We all have different cultures but we all are one.We all love our birth place we all love our culture but if we don't respect other's culture then we do not deserves to be called as human.

My friend recommended me to watch this movie. And it was a complete disappointment for me. I am half Jew and half Ukrainian, so I can judge it from both points of view. First, it is not a comedy at all, since it is not funny. Second, the movie is full of oxymoron and ridiculous things. For example, the constant usage of word 'jid', which is a swearword in Russian, in general. But most of all... Trabant!!! It is not a popular car in the former Soviet Union, it is even not rare, it is simply nonexistent. During my childhood in the USSR I even have not heard about such a car! It may be used as a symbol of GDR, but certainly not of the USSR or Ukraine. The most interesting thing is that the director and the most actors are Russians/Ukrainians (maybe former). So they probably should have noted all these inconsistencies. And third, the Elijah Wood's play is simply weak and not convincing.