Um Doce Olhar

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.

I had wanted to see Bal for a long tie. Finally, I watched it yesterday. Bal is an interesting movie. When a movie has very little action but keeps your attention for two hours, you develop a feeling of respect for the team who made it. You are convinced that making such a movie has lots of difficulty involved, and this mere fact evokes feelings of respect for it within you. Nevertheless, respect does not automatically bring the status of being good to it. Especially, if the movie attempts to give almost all its messages through symbols, looks and constantly rotating camera scenes, another difficulty is brought up, which, in turn, gives rise to evoking feelings of respect for it within you again. This time, the source is the fact that you feel ignorant to decode those messages. In addition, watching Bal is like viewing a Discovery Channel documentary in that the movies presents lots of scenes of both natural and man-made surroundings. However, there is a clear difference between the Discovery Channel documentary and Bal as the events made up of messages in the movie are not coherent and form a congruent story. At the end of the movie, I wanted very much to have conversations with the Jury in Berlin to have a glimpse of what they had thought in honeying Bal with a prestigious award.

Bal is the Turkish word for honey, and that is part of the storyline. Yusuf, a six year old boy, wanders about, searching for both his father and the meaning of life, in no particular order.

His father suffers the trials of Job, his bees have vanished for no apparent reason and he has a family to feed. An accident leads to dads early demise, so most of the film is told from the perspective of Yusuf, who as played by Bora Atlas, is an absolute casting miracle. The kid is tremendous; he owns the screen.

There is very little dialogue, so the actors must use their faces to portray real human emotions. The scenery is beautiful and the sounds of nature fill the air. In the mood for a quiet, thoughtful movie with actual heart and soul, then Bal should be just right.

From time to time you encounter a movie that's excellent, but somehow doesn't get to you the way it should. This one's such a movie.

So much is done the right way: the calm narrative style and some wonderfully photographed scenes deepen the already atmospheric location work; the actors are convincing; and there's no need for cheap plot twists and conclusions.

But something's missing, maybe some sort of magic realism that would transcend the simple story into a meatier concoction.

I liked it, but I didn't love it.

7 out of 10 humiliating book-readings

beauty is the basic virtue of film. the beauty of images, the crumbs of mystery, Bora Altas are parts of this delicate, light-dark movie.a slice of pure life. that is all. and the delicate art of director to create the thirt part of a trilogy. seductive Turkish film, it is mixture of different lines of common life, religion and forms of poetry, small gestures and childhood perceptions. embroidery of signs and looks,it can have a lot of keys. but fundamental thing, the secret of this fragile construction, reflection about essential ingredients of life remains this special beauty. but it is not the unique source of fascination. because it is a correct story and each viewer has chance to discover his well known part. the school, the relation with the father, the image of mother, the wood, the different feelings, the search, the sleep and the shadows from little Heaven are drops who can make Honey a real good movie.