The kid is so freaking cute, this film would be worth watching in any case... Not that much even happened in Bal, but it still managed to be an interesting story, and a unique look into rural Turkish society

If slow, contemplative, bucolic simplicity is your thing, Bal wins an Oscar. The nature scenes are beautiful to look at and the sparse soundtrack makes everything very serene. I'd like to say the boy's performance was good but I found him a little too closed-off apart from the few moments when an enigmatic smile would appear on his face. Because he was so hard to read I found the film emotionally inaccessible compared to other child performances. It's not boring but patience is required.

Iyi film damgasini sonuna kadar hakediyor. Yusuf'un, annesini mutlu gorebilmek icin sutunu sorunsuzca ictigi sahne Semih Kaplanoglu'nun ustaliginin bir isaretidir bana gore...

It wasn't great but had some touching moments.

Bilgisayar basinda izlesem hizli sarardim sanirim, tv'de boyle bir sansim yok. Garip bir sekilde film, agirligini tum sureye yayiyor yani adami baymiyor. Yusuf cok iyi yazilmis, otobiyografik izler tasimasi muhtemel. Hikayenin gunumuzde gecmesi biraz tuhaf geldi. Filmi sevdim, Yumurta'yi dahi tekrar izletecek kadar iyi geldi.

Much more 'reachable' than the other films in the Yusuf trilogy. However, even though it's clearly an advanced filmmaking once again, lacks of creativity with respect to other Yusuf films.

nisan 10, 29. ist. film fest. yonetmenin katilimi ile, ali konbal ile & yusuf uclemesi geriye dogru gittikce daha iyi yapitlar ortaya cikariyor. uclemenin diger filmleri gibi cok sevdim. belki bu film ile birlikte diger filmlerdeki ufak noktalar daha anlasilir / anlamli hale geliyor. kesinlikle cok ince planlanmis yillar sonra uzerinde bir cok insani uzun uzun dusundurecek basarili bir uclemenin son filmi. altin ayiyi haketmis..

This guy Kaplanoglu has his very own language; one of few spoken words, no music and more uniquely one of zoom-lenses in every shot. It's intense and close, it's the drama within. It's the closest we will EVER come to a modern Satyajit Ray and Apu. Only, now it's Yusuf and Turkey, not India. I couldn't help but having to fight the sleep, in spite of this being the most hypnotizing performances I've ever seen from a what... 6-year old? He is what makes you concern.

The best of the trillogy.

It's probably just that I'm pulling from a relatively small pool of contemporary Turkish films, but Tarkovsky seems to pull some weight there (and I hope further viewing only lends credence to that claim). Kaplanoglu develops the long, wide take along a beautiful path in Bal, creating tangible, present-tense realism without losing that heavy sense of time and memory.