Set in Tel Aviv, New Israeli Film ‘Jellyfish’ Shines With Virtue, Veracity

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:25:33 -0700

CHICAGO – It has been a banner year so far for the Israeli film industry. Following the American debuts of “The Band’s Visit” and “Beaufort,” we now have the stunningly composed and heart-rending “Jellyfish”.

Unwinding like a Tel Aviv version of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” – but warmer – “Jellyfish” follows several lives steeped in moral crisis and offers redemption like an elusive brass ring.

Nikol Leidman as the mysterious girl who emerges from the sea in “Jellyfish,” which is a film by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen.
Photo credit: Zeitgeist Films

An underachieving wedding waitress with career and mother issues searches for answers while staring at the sea. An unusual 5-year-old child approaches her in a bathing suit and life-preserver ring.

Since the little girl seems separated from her parents and circumstances, she adopts the other lost soul as her temporary guardian.

Meanwhile, a wedding that the waitress was working at has gone wrong after the reception. The bride suffers a broken leg, which forces honeymoon plans to be moved to a tacky Tel Aviv hotel nearby.

Anxious and bored, the groom begins a friendship with a woman – a resident of the hotel – who seems to be a writer.

Almost as soon as she has appeared, the little seaside girl has disappeared. This generates a tailspin for the waitress that results in the loss of her job, a tense reconnection with her estranged father and a horrendous accident in the street.

Noa Knoller as Keren in “Jellyfish,” which is a film by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen.
Photo credit: Zeitgeist Films

All these characters engage and disengage often during the same meeting interval. There’s a sense of destiny within each of the new relationships. This begs for an emotional cure from a collective buried sorrow.

The city of Tel Aviv is used as an atmosphere that affects all the proceedings. The class distinctions are prominently displayed as well as the fatalistic nature of life during wartime.

The city has been a target of terrorism in the last 10 years. The long Mediterranean coastline is a well-used setting for the interaction of memory and magical realism. As well, the waters attempt to wash away the internal sins.

The soul of the film is a story that maximizes each character’s journey in a lovely cinema vérité framework.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full “Jellyfish” image gallery.

RELATED READING
Read more film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

Writer and director Shira Geffen along with co-director Etgar Keret discover lyrical qualities in the simple exposition of recollections, childhood and even a tacky advertising poster.

These moments are mesmerizing and surprising especially in combination with the narrative conclusions. Geffen’s script is a poignant intersection of the regrettable past and the transitions that must occur to move on.

Whether the newlyweds realize their commonality, the writer finds her words or the waitress forgives herself, it’s all dependent on energies swirling within each of them. These are powers that can either save or condemn them. In this 60th-year celebration of Israel, this film feels like the whole country.

“Jellyfish” opened in Chicago on May 23, 2008 at the Music Box Theatre.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Israeli Directorial Debut ‘The Band’s Visit’ Built on Series of Bittersweet, Exquisite Moments

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:05:07 -0700

CHICAGO – When we speak of conflicts between people or ideologies, there’s a tendency for broad categorization. Who are the liberals or the conservatives? What type of people make up the Israelis or Palestinians? Who are the people of color and who are white?

“The Band’s Visit”.
Photo credit: IMDb

These lines are becoming blurred, and underneath it all, it boils down to familiar humanity. Who’s going to reach out to demonstrate that? Perhaps writer and director Eran Kolirin in his brilliant Israeli film debut “The Band’s Visit”.

The story centers around a band of Egyptian police musicians in absurd matching blue uniforms anchored by longtime conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai). When they are invited to the opening of an Arab center in Israel, an errant bus ride from the airport gets them lost in a small desert town.

An inconsequential diner becomes their refuge where owner Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) and her patrons offer overnight accommodations until transportation arrives in the morning. The subsequent interaction between these native dwellers and the alien musicians divulges moments of true affirmation.

“The Band’s Visit”.
Photo credit: IMDb

The film is built on a series of these “moments” that – much like the notes and silences in a symphony – expose the truth in the characters. Dina’s frustration in being stuck in the small town is filtered through Tawfiq’s tortured dignity.

The band’s resident ladies’ man, Haled, gives love lessons to a hapless would-be Romeo named Papi.

In a slight but poignant aside, a musician dreams of being a composer and playing an unfinished concerto that has no ending. It is a symbolic tribute to dreams lost in the real time.

Writer and director Kolirin addresses the Israeli and Arab fray by reducing the conflict to individuals struggling daily with their past and present conditions. In essence, these people want to do the right thing for themselves and others.

“The Band’s Visit”.
Photo credit: IMDb

The setting within the small town – like the tawdry restaurant and the dilapidated roller-skating rink – reduces the issue of territory down to a place nobody really wants to be.

Kolirin’s use of medium shots encompassing several characters at a time creates an atmosphere of equality that stresses the commonality of life rather than the differences of tribalism.

We see bittersweet and beautiful emotions running throughout the film. These are spread from the small victories in human connection – where a kind word or action can produce a momentary peace from the pressures of life – to the shared passion that the language of music conjures up.

Through this amazing and simple story it is the power of forgiveness – of others and especially of self – that provides hope for moving forward in the journey always with the essential soundtrack drifting in the background. And the band plays on…

“The Band’s Visit” opened at Landmark’s Century Center Cinema in Chicago and Landmark’s Renaissance in Highland Park, Ill. on March 7, 2008.

Click here for our full “The Band’s Visit” image gallery!

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

The Band's Visit

Set in Tel Aviv, New Israeli Film ‘Jellyfish’ Shines With Virtue, Veracity

Israeli Directorial Debut ‘The Band’s Visit’ Built on Series of Bittersweet, Exquisite Moments