Meduzot
Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: April 4, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A beautifully strange movie. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason McBride
Like a Keret story, Jellyfish is economical – a mere 78 minutes – but it packs into its taut, intersecting storylines a charming melancholy and a surprisingly rich depth. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Marvelously inventive, often-ironic Israeli storyteller Etgar Keret and his life- and workmate, Shira Geffen, spin in Jellyfish a dreamy, arty, alluringly cockeyed tale involving three unrelated women in Tel Aviv. Read full review
83
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
What gives the film a haunting and sometimes droll poetic unity is the way co-directors Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen trace all their characters moving in a jellyfish-like fashion. Read full review
80
VarietyAlissa Simon
Tightly constructed, cleverly stylized, serio-comic ensemble piece. Highly cinematic, with a mood of existential loneliness leavened by magical whimsy, its different story strands share themes including the need for affection and the struggle to communicate. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Yes, Jellyfish says, it's a wonderful life, not in that old-fashioned style we've perhaps tired of but in a surprising new and magical way all its own. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
There's enough material here for a miniseries, but the directors keep the proceedings to 78 brisk minutes without making the viewer feel cheated. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Not for all tastes, but produces haunting juxtapositions. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
The scale is small, but Jellyfish has deep currents. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
These stories have as their justification that fact that they are intrinsically interesting. I think that's enough. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The overlapping stories pulse with a tidal rhythm, the film's sensibility flowing between serious and wry, and there are memorable turns from Assi Dayan as the waitress's henpecked dad and Tzahi Grad as a cop with a nonchalant attitude toward babysitting. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterBernard Besserglik
Several stories, or scraps of stories, are woven together in the making of Jellyfish ("Meduzot"), linked by common themes and a shared sense of humor, poetry and loss. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
An Israeli movie with neither politics nor religion--and only one casual, if fraught, mention of the Holocaust--bespeaks an underlying desire for normality that's as poignant and fantastic as Keret and Geffen's modest, shabby Tel Aviv settings. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The film’s spirit is refreshingly playful and sweet. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
I appreciated and admired the craftsmanship of Jellyfish more than I loved it, and I found its whimsical, magic-realist touches a bit cloying. Just as I began to appreciate that it had depths I hadn't perceived, it was over. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
An interlocking ensemble piece in the tradition of "Crash" and "Babel," but with welcome dashes of whimsy and magical realism. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Jellyfish is the kind of film that will ring true for some viewers, while striking others as too slight and precious. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
In spite of the entropy, Jellyfish is close to a comedy, with a gentle sense of absurdism and a welcome generosity toward its characters. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
I have an aversion to such intricately interlocked movies as "Babel" or "Crash" -- for all their pretensions and astral connections they're basically stunts -- and my feelings about Jellyfish are much the same. But this film is handsomely made, and I won't soon forget the almost Jungian image of a wide-eyed child -- emerging from the sea with a red and white lifesaver around her little belly. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
When I ask myself what it is that these women in the movie want, I come up with bubkes. Read full review
20
Film ThreatPhil Hall
Although it runs 78 minutes, it feels like 78 hours. Read full review
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