Bal (Honey)

In the conclusion to Semih Kaplanoglu's Yusuf Trilogy (the first two films—Yumurta (Egg) and Süt (Milk)—are also available), a farming family faces an end to their way of life. Bal centers on future poet Yusuf Özbek (Bora Altas), a diminutive 6-year-old with a stammer and Charlie Chaplin–like walk, who lives in a mountain village in northern Turkey. Yusuf enjoys a close relationship with his beekeeper father, Yakup (Erdal Besikçioglu), who teaches him about the regional flora, and a more perfunctory one with his mother, Zehra (Tülin Özen), who does more caretaking than socializing. Kaplanoglu contrasts Yusuf's misfit days at school with his home life, where he helps Yakup collect honey. The story unfolds slowly and organically, concentrating on quiet moments rather than exposition-heavy sequences, as we learn that Yusuf has trouble reading, Yakup is an epileptic, and the family is Muslim. As the local supply of honey diminishes, Yakup has to travel further away to collect more, leaving his wife and son to fend for themselves—a situation that supplies the film's primary source of tension. Winner of the top prize at 2010's Berlin Film Festival, this is highly recommended. (K. Fennessy)