Honey

Six-year-old Yusuf is an only child. His family lives in the middle of the woods in the mountainous region of northeastern Turkey. The boy almost doesn’t speak and he is emotionally tied to his father. He enjoys accompanying him on work excursions into the woods where his dad, a beekeeper, places his hives high in the tops of trees. Yusuf shares with his father an intimate relationship to nature, learning from him to recognize plants and helping him work with the bees. At school Yusuf is an outsider who longs to receive praise from his teacher but it never comes. This third installment of an already renowned trilogy about the life of poet Yusuf takes us back to his childhood. Director Semih Kaplanoğlu focuses on the tight bond between humans and nature, and on the inner development of the young protagonist. Thanks to outstanding camerawork and an exceptional performance by seven-year-old Bora Altaş, this slow-paced adventure acquires an almost meditative atmosphere. The strength of the film is supported by the absence of music, which allows room for the sounds of virgin nature.