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

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:34:26 -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.

Read Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Jellyfish” in our reviews section.

View our full “Jellyfish” image gallery.

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.

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

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

Read Patrick McDonald’s full “Jellyfish” review.

Academy Award-Nominated ‘Beaufort’ Ponders Question of Why We Fight

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:41:55 -0700

CHICAGO – History eludes us. It’s what happens when we’re busy making other plans. In his new film “Beaufort,” director Joseph Cedar turns his lens toward the history and misery of a Mideastern soldier’s outpost eight years ago that was both defended and attacked while highlighting the human element that has to endure when protecting the territory of warfare.

Beaufort is an ancient castle area at the southern border of Lebanon. It has been an energy center for conflict and has been occupied by various armies for more than 1,000 years. The film is set in the year 2000 when Beaufort is occupied by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), which has held the position since the 1982 war in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah – the Islamic, anti-Israeli paramilitary organization – is bearing down on the outpost heavily with mortar shelling and guerilla tactics in anticipation of a planned IDF withdrawal.

Click here to read Patrick McDonald’s full review
of “Beaufort” in our reviews section!

Click here for our full, high-resolution “Beaufort” image gallery!

“Beaufort”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Ohad Knoller in “Beaufort”.
Image credit: IMDb