It has no musical soundtrack (and barely any dialogue), only a quiet, unforced, organic rhythm. And those spellbinding images. Like the viewer, Mr. Kaplanoglu is quite happy to let nature do the talking and cast a lyrical, mysterious spell.
Honey(Bal)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Turkey, Germany, France · 2010
1h 43m
Director Semih Kaplanoğlu
Starring Alev Uçarer, Erdal Besikçioglu, Tülin Özen, Bora Altaş
Genre Drama
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In the remote and undeveloped eastern Black Sea region, a six-year-old boy wanders through the woods searching for his lost father, trying to make sense of his life.
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What are critics saying?
Bal's familiarity doesn't breed contempt. It does make you wish, however, for something above and beyond the usual high-art-cinema catnip.
Though this graceful film is a minor addition to the canon of Middle Eastern cinema in which nothing and everything happens, Bal is still a beauty.
Bal mingles the bitter and the sweet, but it gets mired in its own stickiness.
A thoughtful and intelligent film, and should appeal to adventurous souls.
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