Review of Jellyfish Eyes (2013) by Cody C — 30 Jul 2015

Takashi Murakami's directorial debut, which is actually a couple of years old, has generated a great deal of excitement and discussion. When Janus Films and Criterion joined forces to release it to the US, expectations had reached such a high that it was almost bound to disappoint some.

The American Film Critics have not been particularly kind to this highly innovative, original and thought-provoking film. That's too bad. This is an entertaining and smart film.

Digital animation / real-time special effects aside, this is an amazing little movie. While it is clearly aimed at children, it deals with survival in a damaged world without ever going too far. That is not to say that I would rush to have my 8 year old child see it. Japanese culture is very different than American.

As I think everyone is aware, Japan encountered the most horrific nuclear disaster in 2011 that could have made Chernobyl look like a cake-walk. Lucky for Japan and the entire world, the disaster's impact appears to be somewhat minimal. Or so we "think." In a post-nuclear world nothing is guaranteed or fully understood. For those near the incident in Japan, the scanning of food, water and soil is a normal occurrence. As for the implications for the ocean, it is very unclear.

Similar to what many parents faced after the tragedies of 9/11 -- comforting and explaining all of that to a child was almost impossible in my mind. I think we can all be sure that Japanese parents deal with a similar situation when families were evacuated and forced to move to new homes. Some stuck in detention centers for a while.

While Takashi Murakami had been developing this project for close to a decade, he clearly revised and reinvented his idea to address the fear, anger and sadness that the nuclear disaster presented to children.

Within this context, "Jellyfish Eyes" takes on a whole other level of meaning and commentary. Overly-protective parents, grieving families and bullies take on a new context. While the truly magical creatures the each child in the film "owns" is presented within a simply-complex Sci-Fi story -- it doesn't take a rocket science to understand that these at first threatening creatures could be a result of nuclear mutation. Murakami's magical creatures offer hope and empowerment for the children. They absorb the childrens' sadness, fears and anger.

At times the metaphor is a bit convoluted. And the movie is paced differently that what we anticipate from Disney. And the mixing of real and digital effects are sometimes more than a little disorienting and violent.

This may not be a smart choice for young children or some parents. But I find it hard to find many faults with such a magical invocation of imagination and spirit. It is not perfect, but it is pretty awesome!