Pretty Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Film 4 champions movies that most viewers would never otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy, let alone even know about. Therefore, they are to be congratulated and supported for showing minor gems such as 'Honey' (Bal).A small number of films have been applauded for stripping down both pace and cinematic frills to convey a way of life. Literally, any slower and we'd be in real time! Italy's 'A Tree of Wooden Clogs' is a famous example which understandably divides opinion quite severely.It is almost incidental as to whom, what, and where 'Bal' is set and about. It will obviously appeal to those who prefer the organic side to things in life, whether in nature, lifestyle or in the cinematic process. Bal covers all these to a generous degree.Yes, it features throughout a six year old stammering Turkish schoolboy - Yusuf - not particularly photogenic, or cute, or naughty, or anything. Just an everyday kid who has a bee-keeping father, who doesn't actually keep bees. Well, not in any one place - he places the hides in remote and beautiful areas and then extracts the honey. His quite young (looking) dutiful mother picks tea.I feel quite privileged to have been given a beautifully, often exquisitely, photographed study of this life and taking up just two hours of my own life. I learned much and there is a quiet story in there somewhere - you can make of it what you will, it's almost unimportant. Or is it?I turned my hi-fi amplifier up quite high when playing the film's sound through it and would strongly suggest you do similar. The all- encompassing natural sounds are so well recorded, every nuance and snippet of sound help paint a very vivid sonic picture. You could almost close one's eyes and listen to this on its own. Almost uniquely, (and thankfully) you won't have to suffer a sudden booming beat or great crescendo of added noise to make you jump out of your skin. It would sound great with headphones, too, I'm sure (as long as you have a stereo source, of course).Personally, I always find it comforting when a film, involving a child features a good teacher. We all know and recognise one, from our own childhoods - Yusuf's teacher is measured and fair, calm and patient, rewarding good work, dissuading bad. These scenes were an absolute pleasure.Apparently, this is the final part in a trio of films by Turkish writer/director Semih Kaplanoglu, though chronologically, it is the first part. Naturally, now, I want to see the other two parts, 'Egg' and 'Milk'. I'm hoping that Film 4 will be showing these, too, at some point.

In order to make a film deep and engaging, it doesn't always require a philosophic brilliance in the idea or an alien avant-garde approach to it.specifically if its to be in the domain of realism like this drama does all the depth and beauty of the art depends on the simplicity and reality which the filmmaker invest in his work. its the third of Semih Kaplanoglu's Yousuf trilogy; the final one. and like the previous ones it pretty much relies on the same approach. The simple yet emotionally developing life of a kid is beautifully portrayed. Throughout the movie one finds himself passing through a subtle experience, a slow, deeply rich performance something which is more of the characteristics of European cinema.Besides the director has done good cinematography and a concise script that fits brilliantly with the nature and country side.I would recommend it to all those that hold cinema higher than the source of mere recreation. its simple yet powerful you will definitely enjoy it.

This movie is about the daily routine of a simple, rural Turkish family; a father (who collects honey for a living), a mother (who works around the home), and a child (who goes to school). The story is told from the perspective of the child, a young boy. "Daily routine" is the key phrase here, because this is exactly what you see. Nothing particularly eventful happens until towards the end of the movie. So basically you watch the kid going to school, and at school; the father going to work, and at work; the mother working around the home, harvesting or cooking. Interspersed among this is the occasional meal at table with modest conversation and interaction, and some brief father and son time around the home. That's it.The only drama or suspense for most of the movie concerns the difficulty the boy is having learning to read which threads throughout the film to the very end. What I've described would be completely uninteresting told from an adult perspective. So it's the boy who is carrying this movie (cute kid). It's his perspective --which is very serious and thoughtful-- that holds your attention any length of time. But we are, to be honest, not only interested in the boy's character in the film, but also the boy playing the character himself. He is impressively disciplined for someone that young. But even the greatest actor needs something to work with besides daily routine which I can see anytime I want to by looking out my window. So I did zone out after awhile (No, I don't do drugs!) near the middle of the film somewhere.One of the noteworthy and curious things about the movie is how subdued this family is; disciplined even. There are no great expressions of happiness or sadness for most of the film. There was the brief smile once in awhile, but that's as far as it went; a serious expression on all faces dominated throughout. So I didn't get the impression that this was a particularly happy family. But at the same time, I didn't feel that it was out of the norm either. So maybe they were happy --or at least content "in their own way". Finally, I did not like the way the movie ended for principally 2 reasons: (1) This is a simple, hard-working family that did not have that much and did not "seem" all that happy to begin with. (2) The movie again, was pretty uneventful, as described, and so the only way it could possibly sustain your interest from beginning to end is if you like this family. I did. And so for these 2 reasons Boloxxxi felt like he was kicked in the nuts by the writer. A plague on the bastard! Love (Ironic, aren't I?), Boloxxxi.

*** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS *** I must admit that I was a bit skeptical about this movie. It won the Golden Bear in Berlin, but, first, it's a German co-production (so, who knows...) and second, festival winners are not always the movies that bowl me over.After having seen it, I must say that I am very touched. The reviews about the movie always focus on the beautiful and calm storytelling and the awesome Anatolian landscapes. But in my view it's primarily a chamber play with a quite depressing story. The young boy Yussuf suffers from strong stuttering. The only person he opens to is his father, a beekeeper. Only with his father the boy can communicate, he whispers complete sentences and expresses his feelings. At the end of the movie, the son will realize that his father died in the woods, the last screen showing the child sleeping under a giant dark tree.The acting from the boy is superb. There are many heartwarming scenes, especially when the boy sees his mother crying and drinks a cup of milk (what he normally hates to do), looking hopefully at her afterward, as if his self-conquest could change anything about the cruel situation. In this scenes the movie really manages to take us into the child's world.What makes the movie a little irritating is not only the slow rhythm (that helps to create those real-life magic moments) and the very few dialogue, but also the lack of emotional gestures, especially between Yussuf and his mom. If the director of the film would have been let's say Michael Haneke, it would surely not be interpreted as a hymn to (natural) life, but as a sober analysis of failed communications.Finally, if you generally do not like slow and minimalistic movies, don't watch this one. It's breathtaking slowly, and very many and very long scenes will only show the boy looking around an empty room with big eyes. All in all, Honey is a naturalistic child drama offering enough space and time for free associations and deep feelings. It's surely recommendable to watch it in a cinema. Although it's overall great done, you might not stay awake until the end when lying on a soft couch at home.