By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Semih Kaplanoglu
Starring: Alev Uçarer | Ayse Altay | Bora Altas | Erdal Besikçioglu | Tülin Özen
Country: germany, turkey
Year: 2011
Running time: 103
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1571724/
Ibad says: “The Turkish film BAL in English, HONEY is infused with a quiet power. The film’s rich and hauntingly soulful imagery makes it nearly impossible to do the material justice in a single review. BAL is the third film of director Semih Kaplanoglu’s Yusuf Trilogy, which is set in the isolated Turkish countryside and focused on the young Yusuf and his parents. Shy, soft-spoken and stammering, Yusuf barely speaks in more than simple whispers to his beekeeper father, farmer mother and classmates. As Yusuf’s father’s bees disappear, so do the beautiful plants of the lush Turkish countryside; and the consequential loss of honey leads to a loss of innocence for the characters.
“Clearly influenced by Victor Erice’s THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE witness the significance of making honey for both films Kaplanoglu is at least as proficient as Erice at constructing the world through childish vision. Subtitles become superfluous as the viewer is drawn into Yusuf’s gaze: His wide brown eyes take up so much of his tiny face, his lower lip is tucked into his upper lip, and his breath comes in heaves the more emotional he gets. Kaplanoglu’s camera lets us feel this child’s yearning, jealousy, shame and happiness. And the emotions are transmitted in the purest form never expressly told, but shown as cinematically as possible.
“In terms of cinematography, each frame is as carefully composed as a painting; the natural sunlight brings out the vibrancy of every color, and with it we see how Kaplanoglu ingeniously manipulates precise emotions. He knows all the tricks; composition is paramount. The lighting is spectacular near the end of the film, as Yusuf’s crying mother appears as a silhouette in front of her orange curtains and blocks the sunlight to which we’ve grown accustomed to, signaling a dark turn in the film’s narrative.
“Like the best accounts of childhood in cinema from the other side of the world PATHER PANCHALI from India, or THE COLOR OF PARADISE from Iran BAL is almost universally relatable. And despite an occasionally slow pace (the film’s only flaw), BAL is a thing of beauty that should be considered nothing less than essential viewing… 5 cats”