Tag Archive: Eugene Hütz


GOGOL BORDELLO’S YOB ROCK

Filed under: Italy, Music — Leave a comment
August 29, 2015

GOGOL BORDELLO Live at the Rocca Malestestiana, Cesena, Italy 28th August 2015

gogolbordelloI do not own any Gogol Bordello records and, prior to this concert, could only name two songs of theirs – Start Wearing Purple and Think Locally. Fuck Globally.

I knew the first from the very wonderful movie Everything Is Illuminated which featured Eugene Hütz ,the band’s extrovert frontman, as a linguistically challenged Ukrainian guide, Alex, in the main character’s “rigid search” for his Jewish roots. The second is simply one of those titles you only have to hear once to remember.

Although I was not au fait with the band’s back catalogue, I figured this would prove no handicap to my enjoyment of the show. If you Google a few concert reviews, the consensus seems to be that this band are ‘awesome’ live.

I expected them to be rowdy, anarchic and loud – all positives in my book. They were all these things but I still came away bored and unimpressed. Continue reading →

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A RIGID SEARCH FOR TRACHIMBROD

Filed under: Books, Fiction, Humour, Movies, Music — Leave a comment
December 4, 2012

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED directed by Liev Shreiber (USA, 2005)

illuminatedThe flaws in this movie mirror those of Jonathan Safran Foer’s debut novel which, broadly speaking, can be attributed to over ambitiousness.

This was my second viewing of the film. The first time I had higher expectations having just read and enjoyed the novel. This time round I was able to appreciate its many strengths and accept its weaknesses.

The punk rock meets Ukrainian folk music makes for a brilliant soundtrack and it is beautifully filmed to accentuate the eccentricity of the story, setting and characters.  As in the novel, the first half of the story works spectacularly with many laugh out loud moments. The scene of Jonathan trying to order a vegetarian meal being one of the highlights.

Alex searches for Jonfan

Alex searches for Jonfan

Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello fame is inspired casting as Alex and steals the show. He is employed as the official translator to the nerdy American Jew, Jonathan (Elijah Wood) whose obsessive collecting of objects and artifacts from his family’s past lead him on a quest for a woman photographed with his late grandfather in a village called Trachimbrod.

Alex’s idiosyncratic grasp of the English language is hilarious, using words like ‘proximate‘ for ‘close’ and boasting how many women want “to be carnal” with him on account of his snappy dressing and “premium” dance skills. Continue reading →

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