Honey
2011 ‘Bal’ Directed by Semih Kaplanoglu
Synopsis
In the remote and undeveloped eastern Black Sea region, a six-year-old boy (Yusuf) wanders through the woods searching for his lost father, trying to make sense of his life.His father is a beekeeper whose bees have disappeared unexpectedly, threatening his livelihood. A bizarre accident kills the father.There is little dialogue or music in the film. The three main characters (Yusuf and his parents) are all fairly taciturn, and the soundtrack is filled out with the sounds of the forest and the creatures that live there.The environment is a recurring theme.
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Many points in the viewing of Honey I wished I had opted to first watch the previous parts of Semih Kaplanoğlu's Yusuf trilogy. Though structured in reverse chronological order, it's clear to see for even someone like me—who had never even heard of the trilogy nor its director prior to the continuity announcement which preceded the film on TV—that the three films foreshadow each other in multiple ways. In some senses I've obviously not gotten the full experience from Honey, which in fact enthuses me: the idea that another viewing could prove more rewarding and fulfilling is delightful to consider. Even without the advantage of having seen Egg and Milk, Honey is an often overwhelmingly powerful film. Kaplanoğlu's visual sensibility…
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The final film in Semih Kaplanoglu’s reverse-order Yusuf trilogy (don’t worry, you don’t have to watch the others to appreciate the film) and he has undoubtedly saved the best for last. Bal (meaning Honey) is a quiet film of great visual beauty and gentle power. Yusuf is a six year old Turkish boy who, due to his excessive stammer, is isolated from all but his father. When his father fails to return home from a honey-gathering expedition (which we see at the start of the film), Yusuf withdraws within himself further and sets out to find him.
The first thing to strike you about Bal is the deliberate and contemplative pace. Sometimes that can just be a byword for slow…
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a beautiful movie....cinematography super. my favorite part is last seen
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E com tão poucos diálogos e sem banda sonora constrói-se um filme que fala-nos sobre uma forma de viver que se vê em risco. Com imagens extraordinárias que me deixaram perplexo, em "Bal" a natureza fala e nós ouvimos!
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This film creates the memorable atmosphere that accompanies its beautiful story without the use of a musical score. A feat which is not very common in cinema. Andrei Tarkovsky once wrote, "Properly organised in a film, the resonant world is musical in its essence - and that is the true music of cinema". Bal (Honey) certainly speaks for a carefully constructed soundscapes and a soundtrack which compliments the naturalism of its location and production. Grade A filmmaking.
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Awesome film, set in the NE of Turkey (I ventured into the area once). Would love to find/see the other two films in the trilogy/set.
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Many points in the viewing of Honey I wished I had opted to first watch the previous parts of Semih Kaplanoğlu's Yusuf trilogy. Though structured in reverse chronological order, it's clear to see for even someone like me—who had never even heard of the trilogy nor its director prior to the continuity announcement which preceded the film on TV—that the three films foreshadow each other in multiple ways. In some senses I've obviously not gotten the full experience from Honey, which in fact enthuses me: the idea that another viewing could prove more rewarding and fulfilling is delightful to consider. Even without the advantage of having seen Egg and Milk, Honey is an often overwhelmingly powerful film. Kaplanoğlu's visual sensibility…
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The final film in Semih Kaplanoglu’s reverse-order Yusuf trilogy (don’t worry, you don’t have to watch the others to appreciate the film) and he has undoubtedly saved the best for last. Bal (meaning Honey) is a quiet film of great visual beauty and gentle power. Yusuf is a six year old Turkish boy who, due to his excessive stammer, is isolated from all but his father. When his father fails to return home from a honey-gathering expedition (which we see at the start of the film), Yusuf withdraws within himself further and sets out to find him.
The first thing to strike you about Bal is the deliberate and contemplative pace. Sometimes that can just be a byword for slow…
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A gorgeous and heart-breaking Turkish film, a little in the vein of Le Quattro Volte. The story is fairly simple: the little boy Yusuf follows his father (a beekeeper) around as he tends to his wild hives in the forest. He seems rather lonely, and isn't doing well with his reading at school. One day, his father fails to return from a longer expedition. We know what has happened, since the scene opens the film, but once you have got to know the adorable Yusuf, the consequences are even more affecting.
Bora Atlas (who plays Yusuf) and indeed all the kids in the film are wonderfully natural. He has a kind of serious intensity which is astounding in such a young boy. The cinematography is beautiful, and there is no musical soundtrack, only the natural sounds of the forest, logs popping the in the wood-burning stove and the wind in the trees.
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What do you get if you put a movie camera in a forest and record things just as it is? Then just add no sound tracks at all? You get this film.
At first I thought this one could be another pretentious movie about life and stuff (I hate pretentious stuff) but after viewing this I really like it, especially the cinema verite approach and the minimum amount of dialogs and how the director let the visual speak for itself. It makes me wanted to listen to Kitaro or Enya and root for the main character, Yusuf.
The title itself means 'Honey' and tells a story about a boy, a very adorable one, Yusuf (Bora Altas) who lives with his…
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It's probably just that I'm drawing from a relatively small pool of contemporary Turkish films, but Tarkovsky seems to pull some weight there (and I hope further viewing only lends credence to that claim). Kaplanoglu develops the long, wide take along a beautiful path in Bal, creating tangible, present-tense realism without losing that heavy sense of time and memory.