Jellyfish Review

Jellyfish is a social drama in the British tradition of kitchen-sink realism as it focuses on the struggles of a teenage girl.

Sarah Taylor (Liv Hill) is a 15-year-old girl living in Margate. She has to act as the primary carer for her younger siblings and bipolar mother (Sinead Matthews). To make ends meet she works at an arcade and gives handjobs to much older men. At school, she gets bullied, but her performing arts teacher (Cyril Nri) sees she has the potential to perform stand up comedy.

These types of social dramas are nothing new in British cinema. Directors like Lindsay Anderson and Ken Loach were pioneers of this subgenre and the likes of Andrea Arnold and Clio Barnard now hold the baton. So Jellyfish‘s director, James Gardner stands in good company.
The plot of Jellyfish was mash-up of The Violators and Fish Tank. Like The Violators, Jellyfish focuses on a teenager who has to act as a caregiver and both films were set in depressed seaside towns. Both protagonists go into an arcade and search machines for any fallen coins. Jellyfish and Fish Tank focus on characters who find solace in performing arts. Sarah gets into stand-up comedy whilst Mia in Fish Tank enjoyed dancing.

Sarah’s story was all too familiar. There are many young people who have to act as a carer for a disabled parent and/or have to look after younger siblings. Due to this Sarah doesn’t do well in school, struggles to balance her life, and she’s going to be a typical case of someone stuck in a low paid job. Sarah’s story was one of survival. She has to manage the merger finance: the family has to use an electricity meter and the only treats Sarah can afford were Space Raider crisps which she gives to her siblings.

Sarah does have to do some morally dubious actions to make money. In the film, she resorts to blackmail to make money quickly. The blackmail victim was made to be a money-grubbing estate agent in an attempt to mitigate her actions, but Sarah was desperate. She could have picked any random man to blackmail.

Jellyfish does have a Cathy Come Home moment when Sarah goes to the Job Centre to try and claims her mum’s benefits. Sarah states that the workers say they care but don’t mean it. However, in Sarah’s case she was projecting and filmmakers do try to be balanced with the manager of the Job Centre saying that Social Services should be involved. Jellyfish wasn’t anywhere near as bias as Loach’s I, Daniel Blake that made everyone working in the benefits system heartless monsters.

The other major part of the story was the relationship between Sarah and her mother. The mother was almost childlike. She was either so depressed that she struggles to get out of bed, suffers from wild mood swings, and gets upset if something goes wrong. On one level the mother’s plight was sympathetic, but she was irresponsible, especially with money. Despite knowing of her family’s money problems the mother does not seem to understand the severity of the problem and become irredeemable with a reveal near the end of the film.

Jellyfish did have a strong cast with Hill impressing in the main role. Hill already impressed in the BBC dramatisation Three Girls and excelled again. She was only 16 when she starred in the film and she raised to this challenging role. Hill is going to have at least a respectable career on the stage and screen. The other major characters were played by actors who are recognisable but not big names. Cyril Nri and Angus Barnett were best known for the roles in The Bill and Pirates of the Caribbean respectively.

Jellyfish was a great showcase for the talent in front of and behind the camera as it keeps to a British tradition of hard-hitting dramas.