Featured Audience Ratings

• Bruce B

  
  Imagine growing up in a family of academics, musicians, and Jewish mystics. When 12-year-old Eliza (Flora Cross) wins both the district and regional spelling bees, her father, Saul (Richard GereJewish mysticism, begins to tutor her daily. Not only is he preparing her for the state… More
  Imagine growing up in a family of academics, musicians, and Jewish mystics. When 12-year-old Eliza (Flora Cross) wins both the district and regional spelling bees, her father, Saul (Richard GereJewish mysticism, begins to tutor her daily. Not only is he preparing her for the state spelling bee competition, but Saul is also training his daughter to be the mystic he wasn't able to become. Bee Season is not only a movie about meditation, but it is also itself a meditation. This family is consumed with finding God, but they all look outside of the family to find it, and in the process, the family falls apart. Eliza's older brother Aaron (Max Minghella) is so jealous that his sister is getting all of the family's attention that he goes off and joins a Buddhist cult, and everyone in the family is so focused on their own problems that no one notices the mother (Juliette Binoche) going slowly insane! Bee Season is transcendent and thought-provoking, and it even makes me want to go out and look for God. 3 Stars 5-2-13

• Wahida K

  
  Family isn't just about talking. It's about understanding.

• Jennifer X

  
  had a lot of potential but blew it.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Bee Season", 11 year-old Eliza(Flora Cross) has just won her school spelling bee and against older kids, too. Her father, Saul(Richard Gere), is a religion professor at Berkeley who is especially interested in the Kabbalah. He takes an… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Bee Season", 11 year-old Eliza(Flora Cross) has just won her school spelling bee and against older kids, too. Her father, Saul(Richard Gere), is a religion professor at Berkeley who is especially interested in the Kabbalah. He takes an extraordinary interest in her contests in an attempt to connect it back to his own studies, thus leaving her older brother, Aaron(Max Minghella), feeling a little left out in the cold. Eliza's mother, Miriam(Juliette Binoche), is a biologist who has issues of her own.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Bee Season" is an intelligent movie about people looking for answers in the world around them.(Since I don't think there are any answers, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride.) Saul is looking for them in religion while Miriam looks in science. And Miriam is still looking for answers concerning her parents' death. It is a sports movie(if ESPN televises it, then it's a sport) that is positively brimming with ideas. And I liked the imaginative visualizations illustrating how Eliza thinks out the spelling of the words.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Note 1: Scott McGehee and David Siegel also co-directed "Suture" and "The Deep End" which are also both recommended. Both movies are referenced here. Suture is one of the words in an early spelling bee. There is a Lake Tahoe bumper sticker on the refrigerator in the house. Lake Tahoe was the setting for "The Deep End."[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Note 2: With the exception of a rerelease of "Days of Heaven" a few years back, I think this is the first time I have seen a movie featuring Richard Gere in a theatre.[/font]

• William G

  
  Seldom do films manage to be so self-satisfied, so overwhelmingly pretentious, and so very dull. D-U-L-L.

• Sunil J

  
  I liked it but the book was better.

Read all 6 featured audience ratings