Film

Jellyfish (2006)

Director: Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen

Movie review

From Time Out Chicago

If this multiplot drama is any indication, the women of Israel are in urgent need of antidepressants. Just look at their troubles: New bride Keren (Knoller) breaks her leg at her own wedding, turning her planned Caribbean honeymoon into a grim stay in an ugly Tel Aviv hotel; banquet waitress Batia (Adler) stumbles through her life numbed by unspecified childhood trauma; Filipino caregiver Joy (De Latorre) has to deal with a cranky old lady while pining for the child she’s left in the Philippines. They’re all connected by recurring symbols, including jellyfish and ships in bottles.

The challenge of such a bummed-out cast of characters is that they can become simply annoying, making you want to shake some sense into them. Keren comes off as a petulant child, torturing her new husband (Sandler) with petty demands. Joy is sympathetic, simply because she handles her hardships with quiet dignity. Batia falls somewhere in the middle, and her maternal bonding with a mysterious, silent child she meets on the beach feels like an easy contrivance to dig at emotional wounds. It’s a jagged little pill, and hard to swallow.