Jellyfish and Lobster
2023 · 20m · UK
Directed by Yasmin Afifi
Tones: darkly comic, melancholic, mythic, tender
Two elderly care home residents — Grace, facing terminal cancer, and Mido, suffering from dementia — form an unlikely bond when they discover the basement pool has magical properties that transform them into their younger, healthier selves.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Enchanted basement pool turns elderly care-home residents young again. BAFTA winner, magical realism, terminal cancer plus dementia plus whimsy. Heard. This. Note.
Afifi's BAFTA-winning magical-realist chamber piece pairs Flo Wilson with Sayed Badreya in a care-home setting — the Cocoon comparison is honest, the Whale less so. Sincere craft within familiar register.
BAFTA-winning, 20:01, on the film's own channel — Afifi balancing terminal-illness drama with magical-realist pool sequences at full-feature short length is the level of tonal control I want to back. The BAFTA seal usually means the lift landed.
Reviews
This is a class production through and through, at a level that is rare in shorts.
The depth that writer/director Yasmin Afifi has imbued in nineteen short minutes of film is astounding. Jellyfish and Lobster is a testament to Afifi's vision and to the talented actors who become surrogate parents or grandparents to the audience.
Festivals
- BAFTA Film Awards 2024, Best British Short Film
- British Short Film Awards 2023, Jury Award, Best British Director, Best Editing
- Encounters Film Festival 2023, Audience Award
- Seattle International Film Festival 2023, Audience Award
- SOUL Fest 2023, Best Short Film