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Where IS That Darn Ice Cream Man Anyway? 2010-04-01

Reviewer: Goodbye Cruel World

I found it interesting to see a story set in Tel Aviv that told of the lives of modern Israelis as other than individuals whose daily existences are mired in the shadow of ever-present terrorism and omnipresent political turmoil. Except for the language differences, these people could as easily have been western Europeans or even Americans. There was good acting here, a lot of multi-faceted female characters, and a strong sense of "what next?" that pulled my interest along. What did bother me was the way the story ultimately reminded me so much of the experimental European cinema of past generations in the way it flirted with symbolism and even magic realism (my number one least favorite way to tell a tale). What was left was a movie that was stronger for its visuals and characters than its actual plotlines, and so what might have been a four-star picture became something less in the final tally.

Dreamy surrealistic exploration of social isolation 2009-06-29

Reviewer: Alan A. Elsner

The English title of this excellent movie "Jellyfish" is so much less evocative than the Hebrew "Medusas." A Medusa floats through the sea, its wavy strands of poison trailing around it, buffeted by the waves but still capable of delivering a nasty sting.
In this movie of three interlocking stories, people float through their lives looking for connections. Most of the film is realistic but occasionally it moves into dreamy surreal passages which illuminate the characters' inner dilemmas.
Batya, abandoned as a child by her warring parents, finds it hard to make connections. Her boyfriend leaves and her job as a waitress at a wedding hall mocks her own isolation. One day at the beach, she's approached by an adorable little girl with a red plastic life preservers around her waist. The girl never speaks but seems real. Others can see her too. It's only gradually we learn that she is a representative of Batya herself as a young girl.
Another plot concerns Joy, one of many Philippine women working in Israel looking after old people. She has to take care of an old lady who came from Germany many decades ago and speaks only German and Hebrew, neither of which Joy speaks. The old lady's daughter, who ought to be taking care of her, is too busy pursuing a mediocre career as an actress.
In the third story, a newly-married couple suffers through a honeymoon in a sleazy hotel where everything goes wrong.
This movie has moments of real poetic beauty. In the end, all the various plot strands come together and are in some sense resolved.
Recommended.

Life of a woman 2009-03-19

Reviewer: Reader

There are three female characters in this remarkable movie from Israel. One is a young woman, with dead end job, boyfriend who is leaving her and her irresponsible landlord. Second one is a young bride who has to trade her exotic honeymoon spot for a less than comfortable hotel in Tel Aviv. Third woman is a young mother, immigrant from Phillipinnes, trying to make ends meet in a country where she knows no one and speaks no language.

All three of them have their own destiny, but what they do have in common is that they are facing their internal fear. They are all strong women but detached from the world: emotially and physically. Their families are sort of absent and on another level, this is a story about emotionally absent mothers.

It is a wonderful story with wonderful deep meanings interwoven between characters; their experiences and unintentional overlapping of faiths that they are not even aware of.

Living on the Lonely Rim of Life 2008-10-11

Reviewer: Grady Harp

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

Visual Poetry about the Joys That Can Unexpectedly Link Our Lives 2008-09-30

Reviewer: David Crumm

If you've never seen a contemporary Israeli film, then "Jellyfish" is a wonderful starting point. It's visual poetry, a weaving together of the stories of a half dozen Israeli women and a few of the men in their lives. While there's very little explicitly religious in the film, it's a deeply spiritual look at what connects us in a joyous and life-giving way -- and what can divide us and leave us drifting like jellyfish in the sea.

As soon as I finished the film for the first time, I went back to the DVD menu and started the film again. That's a strange inclination, but you'll find that this film's poetry calls out to you like a favorite refrain you want to keep singing. This cycle of stories swirls like the waves that wash ashore along the coast of Israel. Visual symbols rise, fall, morph into new forms, rise and fall again -- from the film's opening seconds until its closing scene.

This film is artfully written, directed and edited by husband and wife team Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen. At times, it feels like a Robert Altman ensemble piece, but it's not as elaborately staged and plotted as Altman and, at just over one hour, it's a frothy meditation rather than a ponderous Altman saga.

For instance, you have to chuckle when a weary, stressed-out, middle-aged son tries to explain to his frail mother why he has hired a woman to take care of her during the day, while he is working.

"Save the money for your children!" she chides him.

He sighs. "Mom, I don't have children."

She snaps: "And why not?!"

Sometimes, for all your hard work in caring for other people -- life smacks you like a speeding bus full in the face. And, just when the plot is feeling that way -- a speeding vehicle actually smacks someone in the face. Those are the falling waves in the film. The rising waves are the survivors of such sad moments -- and the unlikely people who help them to survive.

What the film keeps telling us is that, along with all the debris that washes up in our lives, the waves also can bring us unexpected surprises as they ceaselessly roll toward us.

"Why go on living?" one character asks at one point.

The answer comes back: "Maybe because I'll meet someone who'll save me."

And, without spoiling any of the surprises in this joyous little film, I can say this: The people who wash up on shore to save us may not look like anything we expect.

Feeling blue or anxious about the future? Go get a copy of "Jellyfish," sit back -- and plan to watch this film more than once.