From directing debut Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret comes this poignant film JELLYFISH which concerns the lives of three very different women living in Tel Aviv. The films brings these three women together at the wedding of Keren (Noa Knoller) who unfortunately sprains her ankle on her wedding day ruining her honeymoon plans with her new husband. Batya (Sarah Adler) is a catering waitress whose life is anything but ideal and whose boyfriend left her and she lives in a shitty apartment on the verge of being flooded by bad plumbing. Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre), is a non-Hebrew speaking domestic worker who feels guilty for having left her son back home in the Philippines in order to support the family from afar; she’s attending the wedding as an employee of one of the wedding attendees. The lives of these three women are forever linked and changed from the day of the wedding.
Keren is distraught over the changes in her Honeymoon plans, which force her and her new husband to endure the presence of a less then standard hotel room as well as the uncomfortable appearance of a single female writer who harbors secrets of her own and whom Keren fears may be after her new husband. After one of Joy’s charges unexpectedly dies on her she is forced to take care of an elderly women that only speaks Hebrew and German, neither language she speaks causing the two women to find other ways in which to communicate with one another. Then there is Batya who encounters a strange little five-year old girl who seems to have just appeared from the sea and to whom will forever change the way in which she looks at life.
Although none of the women’s lives are directly linked they seem to be connected in different ways and that is the connection from which the film derives its greatest charm in a world filled with disappointments and hardships. Each of the women’s lives are affected by an outside entity which forces them to confront their inner demons. Keren’s life is influenced by this beautiful female writer she thinks is after her husband, Joy’s relationship with the elderly woman and the elderly women’s relationship with her daughter greatly impacts Joy’s relationship with her son, and Batya’s life is forever changed by not only the strange five year girl who appears out of the sea but also by a photographer whose kindred spirit matches her own.
JELLYFISH is a beautifully constructed film, which was nominated for 10 Israeli Film Academy Awards and has been accepted in a multitude of high profile film festivals across the world. It’s rare that a film by first time filmmakers achieves the accolades of this film and deserves them. This is one of the few films of 2008 that should not be missed.
Keren is distraught over the changes in her Honeymoon plans, which force her and her new husband to endure the presence of a less then standard hotel room as well as the uncomfortable appearance of a single female writer who harbors secrets of her own and whom Keren fears may be after her new husband. After one of Joy’s charges unexpectedly dies on her she is forced to take care of an elderly women that only speaks Hebrew and German, neither language she speaks causing the two women to find other ways in which to communicate with one another. Then there is Batya who encounters a strange little five-year old girl who seems to have just appeared from the sea and to whom will forever change the way in which she looks at life.
Although none of the women’s lives are directly linked they seem to be connected in different ways and that is the connection from which the film derives its greatest charm in a world filled with disappointments and hardships. Each of the women’s lives are affected by an outside entity which forces them to confront their inner demons. Keren’s life is influenced by this beautiful female writer she thinks is after her husband, Joy’s relationship with the elderly woman and the elderly women’s relationship with her daughter greatly impacts Joy’s relationship with her son, and Batya’s life is forever changed by not only the strange five year girl who appears out of the sea but also by a photographer whose kindred spirit matches her own.
JELLYFISH is a beautifully constructed film, which was nominated for 10 Israeli Film Academy Awards and has been accepted in a multitude of high profile film festivals across the world. It’s rare that a film by first time filmmakers achieves the accolades of this film and deserves them. This is one of the few films of 2008 that should not be missed.
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