Jellyfish

The acting here is consistently good, with two excellent central performances: LIV HILL in the lead as a fifteen year old forced to grow up early and parent her younger siblings as well as her utterly incapable mother - who's superbly portayed in all her highs, lows and broken chaos by SINEAD MATTHEWS. Both are outstanding.

I have never written a review but felt compelled to after watching this film. I hadn't even heard of the film when my friend asked me if I wanted to go see it with the loose permise that it's about a young girl that discovers she's good at stand up.

What the film gave me instead is an unexpected emotional rollercoaster, some really uncomfortable scenes, but actually a true reflection of real life situations. There are topics covered throughout the film that many people can relate and empathise with, some more difficult than others. Liv Hill is brilliant in this and delivers a very emotive performance, and actually the stand up comedy narrative is for me not the main focus of the story, it's more that she finds solace in it as an escape for everything else she has to deal with. The main story for me is relationships, and having to navigate these to try and lead a normal life when it's anything but normal.

This is not a film for kids at all, but I highly recommend watching this. Just maybe not a film to go and watch if you're already emotionally fragile...

There were a few times while watching Jellyfish that I thought I would have to turn it off. While my own childhood experience was not as extreme as the ones seen in this film, it was close enough to make watching it quite difficult. At the same time it was so good in its performances and the intensity of emotion that I was practically compelled to keep watching. I kept thinking, the ending of this film better be damn good as that will be what makes watching it ultimately worthwhile. In this context I found the ending to be a disappointment though not inappropriate. The story of the eldest daughter of a mentally ill/narcissistic drug addict mother, and how the daughter works so hard to keep the family, including much younger twin siblings, intact and the toll this takes on her. At the same time her emotional struggles lead her to write comedy, so there is something of a silver lining. I would recommend viewing it if you desire an emotionally intense movie-watching experience which includes some nice shots of one of England's quaint seaside towns.

The plight of a young carer in a desperate situation is so heartbreaking. No matter her good intentions and how hard she tries nobody seems to care (except at the end). Nothing so tragic as a young life burdened with harsh realities and responsibilities for which it is not yet ready, certainly not emotionally. Film was far from perfect and hard to watch, still it has heart and I loved it.

This is an absolutely horrendous story for starters of children who have to act and are thrown into circumstances that are far beyond their years. It's an incredibly brave film and had it not been for the credible performances, could've been extremely cringing as I have seen my fair share of amateur productions. I also think it's a really important film to be viewed by teachers and educators to understand their students as multidimensional people as opposed to how they present themselves in whatever class it is they are attending. The learners I often come into contact with come with their own emotional baggage so it really wasn't difficult to understand exactly what the great young actress was portraying. This is another recent film which has shown just how desolate British seaside towns are, or have become, & the struggles which go hand in hand with that dying and dilapidated environment.