Jellyfish

Like jellyfish, we humans are swept randomly here and there by the groundswells of life, occasionally drawing near others on the tide, only to be sucked out to sea again. In much the same way, the dysfunctional lives of the characters in the masterful Israeli film JELLYFISH approach each other. Batya is a disheveled young woman who waitresses at wedding parties. Her relationships with her divorced parents are unsettled, her boyfriend has just left her and her apartment is falling apart. Into her life walks a mysterious mute girl from out of the sea. Keren and Michael are newlyweds whose Caribbean honeymoon dreams are shattered after Keren breaks her leg at the wedding. They end up squabbling in a Tel Aviv hotel. Joy is a Filipina caregiver consumed with longing for her young son back home. Knowing no Hebrew, she's employed to watch over an irritable old woman whose actress daughter has no time for her. With the sea always their backdrop, these three seemingly unrelated stories ebb and flow into each other. A poetic, surprisingly upbeat film by Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret, JELLYFISH won the prestigious Cam̩ra d'Or for best first feature at the Cannes Film Festival. (In Hebrew with English subtitles) РBB