Jellyfish (Meduzot)
by Shira Geffen, Etgar Keret
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gera Sandler, Nikol Leidman, Noa Knoller, Sarah Adler, Zharira CharifaiDirector: Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen
Brand: Zeitgeist Films
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); German (Original Language); Hebrew (Original Language); Tagalog (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound, THX, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 78 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-30
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Zeitgeist Films
Movie Reviews of Jellyfish (Meduzot)
Movie Review: Living on the Lonely Rim of Life
Summary: 5 Stars
There are an increasingly impressive number of films coming from Israel and MEDUZOT (JELLYFISH) is one of the more creative works of cinematic art in that rich catalogue. Shira Geffen (who also wrote the screenplay) and Etgar Keret collaborated on this seemingly small film and from a few threads of separate and disparate characterizations have woven a fascinating and deeply touching montage of the lives of several people whose destinies curiously intersect. The manner in which the film is presented is a graceful mixture of naturalism and fantasy and the directors know just how to combine the two approaches to maximum effect.
The film opens in Tel Aviv at a routine wedding reception where untidy Batya (Sarah Adler) works as a waitress, her life being recently shaken by the dissolution of her relationship. At this noisy and gaudy reception we also notice the bride Keren (Noa Knoller) who encounters an accident in the washroom that results in a broken leg requiring a cast and preventing her from a planned honeymoon (her new husband Michael - Gera Sandler - finds instead a hotel on the noisy boulevard which is less than romantic), and Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre), a Filipino caregiver for older unwanted women who works to send support to her young son in the Philippines, and a young female photographer who captures it all on film. The owner of the catering business fires Batya and the photographer and the two share living space. While musing on the beach Batya finds a strange young mute girl (Nicol Leidman) wearing a circular floating device and when Batya cannot find the girl's parents she resorts to police help - a turn which only places Batya as custodian of the strange child.
Meanwhile Keren and Michael begin their disastrous honeymoon in the noisy hotel, discovering that the quiet top floor suite is occupied by a single woman poet whom Michael meets and eventually requests they trade rooms, a decision that leads to strange circumstances that affect all three people. And during this time Joy is passed among several older women, ending up with a cranky mother of an actress who speaks only Hebrew and German and takes her time growing into the kindness Joy offers her. Small incidents continue to occur, incidents that bind these people together in mysterious ways, some happy, some sad. And while the characters of this tapestry are very realistically drawn, there are moments of magical realism that embroider their lives with a glowing sense of fantasy - moments that address the topics of childhood memories, core needs, death, and that universal need to connect to others. This is a delicate work of crocheted art that remains in the mind long after the credits of this gifted cast and production crew complete the film. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Grady Harp, October 08
Summary of Jellyfish (Meduzot)
Winner of the Caméra d'or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Jellyfish (Meduzot) is a richly imaginative portrait of three very different women emotionally adrift in Tel Aviv. Co-directed by acclaimed Israeli author Etgar Keret (The Nimrod Flipout, The Girl on the Fridge) and his wife Shira Geffen, the film explores Israeli frames of mind in a unique fashion--remarkably apolitical and boldly atmospheric, buoyed by charming touches of magical realism. While Batya (Sarah Adler, Godard's Notre Musique), a struggling waitress, cares for a mysterious child that appeared to her out of the sea, newlywed Keren nurses a broken leg and a ruined honeymoon, and Filipino migrant worker Joy tries to support her son back home. With striking cinematography and moving performances, Jellyfish is a witty and warm reflection on making connections and confronting destiny in a deconstructed urban landscape.SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New anamorphic master, enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Video interview with filmmakers Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer
- Optional English subtitles
- Filmmaker Statement
Twenty-first century Tel Aviv represents something different for each of the women in Jellyfish. Waitress Batya (Sarah Adler, Notre Musique) finds a strangely familiar lost child, Keren (Noa Knoller) experiences an unusual honeymoon, and Joy (Ma-nenita De Latorre) looks after a lonely old lady to support her son in the Philippines. The three don't know each other and nor do they have much in common, but all try to make the best out of their given situation. Batya, who has just broken up with her boyfriend, keeps an eye on the ethereal five-year-old (Nikol Leidman) until social services can take over. At the same time, Keren's husband, Michael (Gera Sandler), befriends a beautiful woman with a dark secret while his wife nurses a broken leg Then things get really strange. Co-directors Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret (whose novella Kneller's Happy Campers inspired Wristcutters: A Love Story) blur the distinctions between fantasy and reality. Sometimes, for instance, other people see the unnamed little girl; sometimes they don?t. As in the existential epigrams of the late Krzysztof Kieslowski (the Three Colors Trilogy), characters cross paths and affect each other's lives, like when Batya accidentally causes Joy to lose something precious, but never realize they're threads in a larger tapestry. The DVD includes the theatrical trailer and a conversation with the married filmmakers. Along with The Band's Visit, which also appeared in 2008, this lovely and touching film proves that Israeli cinema has finally come into its own. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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