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Michael says: “JELLYFISH won the Golden Camera,
and the Screenwriter’s Award at Cannes earlier this year. Now it comes
to Toronto, and in a couple of months, the Boston Jewish Film Festival
co-presented by Chlotrudis! I didn’t know what to expect from JELLYFISH,
but the movie’s synopsis sounded pretty interesting, so when Sara Rubin
suggested it as one of our choices to co-present at the BJFF, I figured
I would catch it in Toronto, and least be able to promote it properly.
Imagine my surprise when it proved to be one of my favorite films of the
festival!
The theme of JELLYFISH is disappointment. There are three central stories
in JELLYFISH, involving three young women living in Israel. All three
of these women have suffered severe disappointments, the first years ago
during her childhood, another just a day ago at her wedding. Batya lives
alone in a rundown apartment, working as a waitress for a wedding caterer
and continuously being overlooked by her parents. Joy is a Filipino domestic
who doesn’t speak Hebrew and is trying to raise enough money to return
to the Philippines to be with her young son. Keren is just married to
Michael, but their honeymoon has been curtailed after she ends up in a
cast at an embarrassing accident at their reception. The three women’s
stories intersect at various points of the film, and it isn’t until the
conclusion that the theme of the film unfolds.
Directors Geffen and Keret employ gentle magical reslism, most notably
in the form of a mysterious little girl who appears from out of the sea
to Batia and leads her without speaking to a path of realization. To tell
anymore of the plot would surely take away from the enjoyment of watching
things play out while enjoying the film. This is a delightful film, worthy
of the accolades it has already achieved, and definitely worth the time
of any Chlotrudis member to see it. 4 1/2 cats
“JELLYFISH screened at the Toronto International Film Festival”
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Chris says: ” Israeli import JELLYFISH won the
Camera D’or at Cannes this year and will play the Boston Jewish Film Festival
in November. It’s another piece where we’re introduced to numerous people
and slowly come to know how they’re all connected, but first time directors
Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret tell their convoluted tale with intuitiveness
and grace. The characters include a hapless wedding party waitress, a
Filipino caregiver, a struggling actress (who appears in the most pretentious
and possibly funniest production of HAMLET ever) and a five-year-old girl
naked except for a red-striped inner tube around her waist. It’s no small
feat to throw them together and come up with something so poetic and charming.
JELLYFISH screened at the Toronto International Film Festival”
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