Saturday, October 29, 2011

Don't Tell Your Dreams to Anybody

Bal (2010) - Kaplanoğlu
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Remote mountain village in Turkey is perhaps the biggest star in Bal (Honey), Semih Kaplanoğlu's last installment of the trilogy that includes Egg and Milk. Sunlight and silhouette dominate. It tells a very simple story of Yusuf, an 8-year old boy. He worships his beekeeper father, has some difficulties in reading, hates milk.... It's a bad bee season. So his father goes out of town to find a better spot to plant a new beehive. A couple of days pass and the father doesn't come back and things become uneasy for him and his mother.

There are many small beautiful moments with Yusuf and his father. One breathtaking dreamlike sequence takes place indoors: it's a slow tracking shot following Yusuf through the house that strongly resembles the indoor farm sequence in Tarkovsky's Mirror. Overall, In mood and tone, Bal has more common with The Spirit of the Beehive. A beautiful film.