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
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
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.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
What are people saying?
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.
Users who liked this film also liked
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
They have a plan...but not a clue.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, United States • 2000
- Director Joel Coen
- Cast George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Crime
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
A Bay of Blood
(Ecologia del delitto)
The original slasher.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1971
- Director Mario Bava
- Cast Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati, Chris Avram, Leopoldo Trieste
- Genre Horror, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Cultpix, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Cries and Whispers
(Viskningar och rop)
Four women dressed in white... in a mansion painted red... haunted by whispers and cries.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden • 1972
- Director Ingmar Bergman
- Cast Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Kari Sylwan, Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Anders Ek
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Kings of the Road
(Im Lauf der Zeit)
Two men find themselves bonding as they travel the border of East and West Germany.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany • 1976
- Director Wim Wenders
- Cast Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer, Rudolf Schündler, Marquard Bohm, Hans Dieter Trayer
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Milk
(Süt)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, France, Germany • 2008
- Director Semih Kaplanoğlu
- Cast Melih Selçuk, Rıza Akın, Saadet Işıl Aksoy, Başak Köklükaya, Tansu Biçer
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Aura
(El aura)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, Spain, France • 2005
- Director Fabián Bielinsky
- Cast Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi, Pablo Cedrón, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Jorge D'Elía, Alejandro Awada
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Bananas!*
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden, Denmark, United States • 2009
- Director Fredrik Gertten
- Cast Byron Rosales Romero, Juan J. Dominguez, Duane Miller, Rick McKnight, David Delorenzo, Mercedes Del Carmen Romero
- Genre Documentary
- Available on DocAlliance Films, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Hoopla
Egg
(Yumurta)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, Greece • 2007
- Director Semih Kaplanoğlu
- Cast Saadet Işıl Aksoy, Nejat İşler, Ufuk Bayraktar, Tülin Özen, Gülçin Santırcıoğlu, Kaan Karabacak
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Losers' Club
(Kaybedenler Kulübü)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2011
- Director Tolga Örnek
- Cast Nejat İşler, Yiğit Özşener, Ahu Türkpençe, İdil Fırat, Riza Kocaoğlu, Serra Yılmaz
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Only God Forgives
Trouble ensues when the brother of a drug dealing expatriate is killed in Bangkok.
- ✭ ✭
- Denmark, France, United States • 2013
- Director Nicolas Winding Refn
- Cast Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Rhatha Phongam, Gordon Brown, Tom Burke
- Genre Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VIX , Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
11 Meetings with My Father
(11 Συναντήσεις Με Τον Πατέρα Μου)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Greece • 2012
- Director Nikos Kornilios
- Cast Eva Galogavrou, Lambros Apostolou, Eva Stylander, Giorgos Tzouvelekis
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
But Muzeyyen That's the Deepest Desire
(Fakat Müzeyyen Bu Derin Bir Tutku)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2014
- Director Çiğdem Vitrinel
- Cast Erdal Beşikçioğlu, Sezin Akbaşoğulları, Erdinç Gülener, Hare Sürel, Ege Aydan, Derya Alabora
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV
The Salesman
(فروشنده)
Emad and Rana move into a new flat, but an incident with the previous tenant dramatically changes their life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iran, France • 2016
- Director Asghar Farhadi
- Cast Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Karimi, Mina Sadati, Mehdi Koushki, Farid Sajjadi Hosseini
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Freevee
An Officer and a Spy
(J'accuse)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 2019
- Director Roman Polanski
- Cast Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel, Emmanuelle Seigner, Grégory Gadebois, Hervé Pierre, Wladimir Yordanoff
- Genre History, Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Ayka
(Айка)
A young immigrant worker in Moscow desperately works to pay off her debts while dealing with postpartum health issues.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Russia, Germany, Poland • 2019
- Director Sergei Dvortsevoy
- Cast Samal Yeslyamova, Dzhipargul Abdilova, David Alaverdyan, Cholponay Borubaeva, Nurzhan Kunnazarova
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel
La Chimera
Arthur, an archaeologist with a supernatural gift for locating Etruscan relics, reunites with a ragtag group of tomb raiders.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, Switzerland • 2023
- Director Alice Rohrwacher
- Cast Isabella Rossellini, Josh O'Connor, Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher, Vincenzo Nemolato, Chiara Pazzaglia
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Holy Spider
(عنکبوت مقدس)
A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad to investigate the serial killings of sex workers.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Germany, Sweden • 2022
- Director Ali Abbasi
- Cast Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mehdi Bajestani, Arash Ashtiani, Forouzan Jamshidnejad, Sina Parvaneh, Nima Akbarpour
- Genre Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video
The Taste of Things
(Le Pot-au-feu de Dodin Bouffant)
The story of Eugenie, a gifted cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet with whom she has been working for over the last 20 years.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2023
- Director Tran Anh Hung
- Cast Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Pierre Gagnaire
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on Acorn TV, AcornTV Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , Acorn TV Apple TV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, YouTube
Monster
(怪物)
When a single mother notices her young son Minato is behaving strangely, she confronts his teacher to discover why.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2023
- Director Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Cast Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Hinata Hiiragi, Mitsuki Takahata, Akihiro Kakuta, Shidô Nakamura
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, FlixFling