Little Seen Film of the Day: Jellyfish

JellyfishJELLYFISH won the Golden Camera, and the Screenwriter’s Award at Cannes in 2007 when I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it was little seen here in the States.  The theme of JELLYFISH is disappointment. There are three central stories in JELLYFISH, involving three young women living in Israel. All three of these women have suffered severe disappointments, the first years ago during her childhood, another just a day ago at her wedding. Batya lives alone in a rundown apartment, working as a waitress for a wedding caterer and continuously being overlooked by her parents. Joy is a Filipina domestic who doesn’t speak Hebrew and is trying to raise enough money to return to the Philippines to be with her young son. Keren is just married to Michael, but their honeymoon has been curtailed after she ends up in a cast at an embarrassing accident at their reception. The three women’s stories intersect at various points of the film, and it isn’t until the conclusion that the theme of the film unfolds.

Directors Geffen and Keret employ gentle magical reslism, most notably in the form of a mysterious little girl who appears from out of the sea to Batya and leads her without speaking to a path of realization. To tell anymore of the plot would surely take away from the enjoyment of watching things play out while enjoying the film. This is a delightful film, worthy of the accolades it has already achieved, and definitely worth the time of anyone to see it.

Little Seen Film of the Day – Picture Day

Picture DayThis one is for all the rabid Orphan Black lovers out there (like me).  Or maybe it’s not.  Maybe they’ve already found this film and devoured it like all things Tatiana Maslany.  So maybe this is for everyone else.

A couple of years ago, before the Clone Club, I saw a little Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2012.  It was fun, it was well written, and it starred a young actress who caught my eye.  I remember saying to Beth, “We should get Tatiana Maslany to come to Chlotrudis for the Breakout Award.  I think she’s going to go places.”  Well, it wasn’t many months later that Orphan Black hit the scene and the rest his history.  Tatiana Maslany was a cult favorite, rapidly gaining wider and wider audiences.  But back in 2012, she starred in a terrific, complex, teen comedy/drama called PICTURE DAY.

Claire (Maslany) was a bad ass in high school, but now she’s repeating her senior year and she’s become something of a joke.  She’s hanging around Henry, a nerdy freshman that she used to babysit, who now has a hopeless crush on her, with a goal of making him into a mysterious, hip rebel.  Her success with Henry throws his life into a turmoil, but her own life isn’t much better off.  With a mother who barely notices her, and an 33-year-old rocker-wanna-be boyfriend who’s clearly not in Claire as much as he’s into the adoration of young groupies, Claire’s work with Henry is really the only things that’s going well – at least in her mind.  Clearly, Claire’s is being set up for some tough life lessons, which are delivered in a way that isn’t heavy-handed, a credit to writer/director Kate Melville’s skill as a flimmaker.  But it’s Tatiana Maslany, who shines in PICTURE DAY.  Clearly just a taste of what was to arrive less than a year later on the small screen.

Filmmaking on the Edge

Just got back yesterday from the 13th Provincetown International Film Festival. I will write more extensively on the festival soon (I hope), but for now I thought I’d post a list of the films I saw and the rating I gave them (based on a 1 – 5 scale; 5 being the best). They are listed alphabetically, and categorized by Narratives and Documentaries.

Narratives

  • Another Earth (5 cats)
  • Happy Happy (4 cats)
  • Higher Ground (5 cats)
  • Janie Jones (4 cats)
  • Mangus! (2 cats)
  • Maria My Love (5 cats)
  • The Perfect Family (3 cats)
  • Varla Jean and the Mushroom Heads (3 cats
  • Weekend (4 cats)

Documentaries

  • Buck (5 cats)
  • Hit So Hard (4 cats)
  • Hot Coffee (5 cats)
  • Page One (3 cats)
  • Tabloid (3 cats)

14 films and a bucketload of parties. Really nice filmmakers and good friends. Festival experienc? 5 cats.