EK News

"The Girl on the Fridge" on Rayner's shortlist

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:25:21 GMT

"The Girl on the Fridge" on Richard Rayner's shortlist (LA Times)

The prose zips, the effects unsettle -- Keret is himself something of a magician, and what he pulls from his hat feels lively indeed.

"Loquat" - published at LA Weekly

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:54:42 GMT

LA Weekly has published Keret's short story "Loquat"

I gave her the gun, but she slapped it right back into my hand. “That’s not kids, that’s animals,” she said resolutely.
“Okay, Grandma, I’ll take the rifle.” I gave in with a hopeless sigh and kissed her cheek. “Now go inside.”
“Oh, mon petit gendarme,” Grandma said, clapping her hands happily. Filled with satisfaction at her small victory, she skipped up the steps.
“Soldat,” I cried after her.

SF Bay Times interview

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:55:04 GMT

San Francisco Bay Times interviews Keret

I really think that when you write or make films, you try to show how you experience reality. I don’t experience it as realism, which is objective, and something people agree on. The moment you accept subjectiveness, it transcends realism - falling in love is like flying in the air. These experiences happen, and you check them against reality, and they are actually much more relevant than reality. It is a way to describe the world I live in.

"Jellyfish" west coast reviews

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:22:31 GMT

Some "Jellyfish" reviews from LA and SF

LA Weekly

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.

LA Times

Like Keret's short stories, the film has a sense of the genial absurdity of life, a whimsical appreciation of the inescapable randomness of our anything-can-happen existence, of how fragile yet resilient are the bonds that draw people together.

SF Gate

The kind of magical realism we see in the Israeli indie effort "Jellyfish" is a tricky business; if poorly handled, it's contrived and saccharine. This comedy-drama has whimsical moments, but through adroit direction it avoids these pitfalls. By the end it's clear that serious issues are in play.

The LA interviews

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:45:17 GMT

Here are 2 interviews with Keret

LA Times

"My prime motivation to write stories," Keret said, "is that I want to read them. I would be very happy if somebody else had done it, but they're all lazy . . . , so I have to write it all by myself." As he tells it, his decision to direct "Jellyfish" was a similar story of picking up the slack from the goldbrickers out there.
"My wife wrote this wonderful script, and I said, 'I really want to see this film.' She showed it to one director who said it was never going to work. She showed it to another who said, 'This is boring.' The third one said, 'This is completely confused.' . . . The moment I suggested directing the film I looked at my wife's eye and knew if we didn't do it, this film will never be done."

LA Weekly

“I write about the violence that I grew up with,” Keret says matter-of-factly. “In a country where, for three years out of their lives, everybody who is 18 lives in a reality where he may kill people or see people get killed next to him, he may do things Americans would never do. I didn’t serve in the occupied territories, but people who do know that if you knock on a door and it doesn’t open, you kick it open. You can play the guitar, read Nietzsche, become a very good dentist, but you’ll still do it. And once you cross that line, it’s very difficult to uncross it. When your girlfriend won’t talk to you and locks the door, you will still know how to kick it open.”

Heeb Magazine on "The Girl on the Fridge"

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:18:21 GMT

Heeb Magazine: Things Fall Apart

Though rooted in ordinary events—birthday parties, traffic jams—and told in straightforward, unadorned prose, the fantastic inevitably creeps in, leaving his stories with a strange foreboding. Such is the case in “Hat Trick,” in which an unwitting magician starts pulling severed rabbits and headless babies out of his hat to the delight of his underage audience; or “Crazy Glue,” in which a marital dispute is solved when the woman pastes herself to the ceiling with super glue. This surrealism, coupled with glib narration, belies how serious a writer Keret is and how dark his subject matter. This does not mean that the author’s bizarre scenes won’t make you laugh—they will—but just as often, that laughter will get stuck in your throat

"Jellyfish" got 4 out of five stars at Monsters and Critics

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:11:46 GMT

Monsters and Critics Movie Review: Jellyfish (Meduzot)

A fresh look at the power of cinema to plump the depths of the sub conscious. This is not an easy film to watch. The audience has to work, but the result is worth it.

"The Girl on the Fridge" is out (since 15th of April, actually)

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:28:25 GMT

"The Girl on the Fridge" is out.
Here's a couple of reviews:

Village Voice

By his own metric, Keret (whose last collection was The Nimrod Flipout) is the raging asthmatic of short-fiction writers, his words chosen and few, his stories issued with the urgency of an inhaler's blast.

San Diego Union-Tribune

Rarely are stories as economical as Keret's, and rarely are economical stories as affecting as these. Keret, an Israeli writer whose work has been featured on “This American Life” and “Selected Shorts,” explores the nature of violence and alienation from a surreal, whimsical perspective in writings that rarely exceeds five pages in length. Even the most impatient reader has time for these quick reads.

Entertaiment Weekly on "Jellyfish"

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:56:15 GMT

Entertaiment Weekly: Jellyfish (2008)

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, a mysterious little girl, and the power of the sea — an element central to Tel Aviv life and psyche. The seemingly random movement of the title's slippery, stinging creatures applies to the direction of the characters' lives, as well as to the delicate, carefully crafted shape of the movie, which won the Camera d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. B+

"Jellyfish" takes the cake (NY Times Critics' Pick)

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:09:33 GMT

NY Times (Critics' Pick):

This is a movie about the gulf between parents and children, between lovers, between friends and even between adults and the children they wish they could still be. But it is also about the irreducible oddness of being alive, and the tiny pleasures and kindnesses that can compensate for the usual tedium and indifference of the world.

[Ooops, undeleted :s ] Two Hebrew words you can't translate

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:16:54 GMT

Nextbook: Chaos Theory:

During the meal, one successful documentary director asked me a question: Could I think of any Hebrew words that have no equivalents in English? An excellent question, and even though I was sure there were many such words, the only two I could think of actually do have English equivalents, except that in Hebrew—or maybe it would be more accurate to say "in Israeli"—they carry completely different values.

"Jellyfish" hits the harbour

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:44:04 GMT

New York Magazine(Critics' pick)

This award-winning drama traces the paths of intersecting lives in Tel Aviv: a groom and his bride, an aimless young woman and a mysterious child, a Filipino caregiver and her cranky charge. The film is shot through with keen observations and dry wit, and has a refreshing, easygoing sense of flow. — Logan Hill

Village Voice

Bleakly wistful, regarding its essentially lonely characters with a gaze both tender and lethal, Jellyfish was co-directed by the bestselling Israeli writer Etgar Keret and his wife, dramatist-director Shira Geffen (who is credited with the screenplay)

Wednesday, Keret attends Upstate Films

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:56:52 GMT

The Times Herald Record:

A double award winner at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, "Jellyfish" starts next Friday at Upstate Films, 6415 Montgomery St., Rhinebeck. However, Upstate will host a special advanced screening at 8 p.m. Wednesday with co-director Etgar Keret in attendance. The film weaves the different stories of three women in Tel Aviv. Tickets are $10. Call 876-2515

"Jellyfish" opens theatrically in the USA

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:37:42 GMT

4th of April "Jellyfish" starts screening commercially in the USA. Find a theater near you

"Jellyfish" - big in Japan

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:18:55 GMT

The life aquatic — in Israel By KAORI SHOJI, Japan Times

War and its implications are the first things one tends to associate with Israeli cinema, perhaps because those kind of films are the ones that make it to the film festivals and get international releases (most notable are the works of director Amos Gitai). "Jellyfish" is a welcome respite from this

"Jellyfish" @ ND/NF (NY, March 26-April 6)

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:27:38 GMT

The New Yorker

March 26-April 6 Co-hosted at MOMA and Walter Reade, “New Directors New Films” offers a selection of work from around the world, including “Jellyfish,” the Caméra d’Or winner at Cannes last year, by the Israeli writers Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, and Serge Bozon’s First World War drama “La France.” (212-721-6500.)

A special mention and an Ecumenical prize

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:36:44 GMT

AWARDS AT 9th IFF BRATISLAVA 2007:

Special Mention of the Jury - Jellyfish / Meduzot
(d. Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen, Israel, France, 2007)
There is great humanity in these short stories which are woven into a poetic image with questions and no answers.

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Jellyfish / Meduzot
(d. Etgar Keret, Shira Geffen, Israel, France, 2007)
For the poetic and symbolic reconciliation with others and themselves of individuals facing existential torments.

"Freeze!" ("Amodu") at LA Weekly

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:53:12 GMT

LA Weekly - Short Story: Freeze!

Suddenly I could do it. I’d say “Freeze!” and everyone would freeze, just like that, in the middle of the street ... And I’d walk past them till I found the prettiest girls... bring them home and fuck their brains out ... I felt fantastic. I felt like a king. Until my mother butted in ...

"Jellyfish" wins in Argentina

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:35:26 GMT

'Mezudot' tops San Luis Cine fest:

BUENOS AIRES - The winners of the inaugural Festival Internacional San Luis Cine were announced Saturday in the provincial Argentine capital in the foothills of the Andes Mountains.

Israeli film "Meduzot" (Jellyfish) won top prize in the features category, taking home the Golden Puntano and US$50,000.

Better late than never

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:44:02 GMT

Not exactly news, but we've just found a Variety review from the Sundance days

Variety (Jan. 25, 2006):

Dukic elicits beautifully underplayed performances from his three leads, though Whigham's alternately infuriating and endearing Eugene does get some large laughs. Sossamon makes Mikal feisty and alluring in a resigned goth-girl kind of way, while 23-year-old Fugit, who's matured a lot since his road-movie debut "Almost Famous," effortlessly engages as the film's emotional glue.

"Wristcutters" UK launch

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:13:55 GMT

November 22^nd, "Wristcutters" premiered in UK theaters

The Scotsman:

Wristcutters wears its quirkiness a little too proudly, but its performances - particularly of Fugit and Sossamon - and the relentless black humour make it a trip worth taking.

Monsters and Critics:

Every once in a while you come across a film that completely floors you. It’s usually a title into which you go with not-too-low expectation, something you barely heard of, maybe just one actor whom you’re fond of and he’s the reason you go to see it. However once the actual film starts, and you realise boy oh boy, is this going to be one special ride…

IndieLondon:

Based on the short story Kneller’s Happy Campers by Etgar Keret and co-written by Dukic, the film effortlessly rises above its potentially depressing premise to provide film fans with a genuinely inventive ride. Characters are richly drawn and more than a little quirky (no one is able to smile) but it’s easy to warm to their heartache and turmoil.

This Friday, Moretti unleashes Jellyfish

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:36:35 GMT

This Friday, 16^th of November, Jellyfish hits Italian theaters.

Nanni Moretti is doing the distribution.

Left to right: Nanni Moretti, Shira Geffen, Etgar Keret

More photos

Village Voice on Wristcutters

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:15:35 GMT

Village Voice - SOCIAL SUICIDE

a well-wrought indie written and directed by Goran Dukic, has to be the kewpie doll of current zombie flicks: Its walking dead are a bunch of attractive slackers whose wounds are largely internal. They’ve got attitude

"Wristcutters" NY Times review

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:17:36 GMT

Wristcutters: A Love Story - Movie - Review - New York Times:

this movie, written and directed by Goran Dukic, a graduate of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Croatia, and based on a novella by the Israeli writer Etgar Keret, has an offbeat, absurdist charm that turns a potentially creepy conceit into an odd, touching adventure. The Sundance Film Festival (where “Wristcutters” first popped up in 2006, before vanishing into indie limbo) can be a breeding ground for studiously whimsical, willfully quirky films. “Wristcutters” belongs to a rarer species: it is genuinely eccentric.

The full article

A photo from PIFF 2007

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:39:07 GMT

Keret at Piff 2007