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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 43130
Released: April 4, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.94 |
| Used Price: $0.85 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Richard Gere stars in this gripping tale about a father obsessed with training his talented daughter for the National Spelling Bee. Eliza Naumann (Flora Cross) demonstrates such an amazing gift for spelling any word given to her that her father Saul (Gere) insists on coaching her himself. But as Eliza's success continues, Saul's newfound devotion grows causing huge changes for the entire family!
Description of Bee Season:
An intelligent 11-year-old girl holds the key to solving her dysfunctional family's crisis in Bee Season, an intriguing drama that draws heavily on the mysterious power of words. Adapted by Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal (Running on Empty) from the popular novel by Myla Goldberg, this curiously involving movie focuses on the Naumanns, an academically inclined family led by Saul (Richard Gere), a stern father and emotionally distant husband who teaches Jewish theology in Berkeley. Driven to intellectual pursuits and intense study of the Kabbalah (especially its theological emphasis on the mystical importance of words), he barely notices his young daughter Eliza (Flora Cross) until she wins a regional spelling bee. Shifting his favor away from his rebellious son (Max Minghella) and a troubled wife (Juliette Binoche) still traumatized by a past tragedy, Saul invests his paternal pride in Eliza’s spelling prowess, unaware that she’s got some mystical powers of her own. As proven by their acclaimed mystery thriller The Deep End, co-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel have a knack for Hitchcockian attention to visual details, and with a performance by 12-year-old Flora Cross that’s wise beyond her years, Bee Season unfolds as a uniquely perceptive film about complex human behavior. Not for all tastes (as evident by the mixed reviews it received from critics), but very rewarding for anyone who tunes into its peculiar emotional wavelength. --Jeff Shannon
Bee Season Reviews:
Oy 
2009-10-24 - This movie is so Jewy it affected me like iron nails raked down a blackboard.
The insufferable nature of the characters is outstanding for portraying everything I can't stand about Jews. The smug, smarmy, smirking, hypocritical, narcissistic "loving" dad, the wife who looks like she's struggling constantly with an intestinal problem, the allegedly brilliant child (hypocritically cherished only when she excels at something), the incoherent mystical "message," the pushy boastfulness of the cultural aspirations (we're contributors to the symphony because we're the Chosen of G-d), the complete lack of anything authentically human as opposed to "Authentic and Human." At first, I thought all this was being played satirically. But no! We are looking at the producers' idea of a good family, good people. Zotz! May lightning strike!
Take it from me: if you want to turn normal gentiles into staring anti-Semites, have them watch this movie twice in a row. Or even once.
Good Movie, Better Book 
2009-08-11 - Bee Season / B000E6ES8U
*Spoiler*
Superficially, "Bee Season" is about a young, neglected girl trapped in a dysfunctional family, whose unusual spelling talent suddenly and irrevocably sets her apart one fateful morning, resulting in a life-changing journey as she traverses the national spelling bee. And, on that level, this movie is not much different from the heartwarming and similarly-themed Akeelah and the Bee.
Under the surface, however, "Bee Season" is about the spiritual journeys of the four members of this dysfunctional family. Young Eliza hears the voice of god when she spells, and hopes to be able to communicate with him via her talent, in order to ask him to heal her family. Older Aaron, on the other hand, has become disillusioned with his father and his father's religion and seeks spiritual enlightenment in a religion as different from his father's as possible. And the schizophrenic Miriam seeks enlightenment in her own special, disjointed way - breaking quietly into peoples' houses in order to retrieve the little, broken pieces of herself, the pieces of detritus that fall behind refrigerators and under couches.
Father Saul is the lynchpin of this family, and is simultaneously the source of all the conflict. "Bee Season" the movie has done a good job of making Saul appear to be a kind and devoted family member, but as the movie progresses, Saul's rampant narcissism and complete disregard for the feelings of his children (except inasmuch as they affect him) becomes more and more obvious. An angry and frustrated Aaron begs his sister to give up the bee, telling her that she is only doing it for Saul, and Saul is only doing it for the attention and devotion that he craves. Eliza must struggle with the consequences of her bee competition, feeling as though her family makeup hinges completely on whether she wins or loses.
As a metaphor for religious journey and growth, "Bee Season" is beautiful and thought-provoking, but if you're just looking for a spelling bee themed movie without the emotional baggage, probably something more straight-forward like "Akeelah" would be the best bet. It probably goes without saying that Bee Season: A Novel is better than the movie - with a subject matter as deep and difficult as spiritual confusion and searching, there's only so much a movie can accomplish in the given time limit. I recommend checking out the book first and if you enjoy the book, you will probably enjoy the movie.
The California Formula
2008-12-15 - Hey! Another dysfunctional california family...what a surprise! They just wrapped in a thin veil of religion. This was not a good or inventive movie. It's another dis-jointed, multi-line movie with unlikeable characters. I can go with likeable characters and a sad ending, or likeable charaters and a happy ending. But to sit through 2 hours of annoying people with a happy ending...who cares? I'm not sure if the girl's character was a case of bad casting or bad direction.
The story with the mother was also frustrating, since we couldn't tell what was happening. Was she having memory flashbacks or psychic visions? Did she know the people who owned the houses or were they random? Was Saul cheating on her or was this related to her parents death? Sure we figured it out, but the actual story turned out to not be as interesting as what we were speculating.
The oldie Grand Canyon was a better movie of the same type. At least there weren't any toads falling from the sky at the end.
Bee Season review
2008-11-29 - Richard Gere plays the father of an 11 year old girl who makes it to the national level spelling bee. Originally I had expected that this is what the movie would be about, but that seemed to be a minor part of the story. This movie got very strange in not a good way. There were flashes of story that never did come together and make sense. The end left you wondering still what those flashes were, you kept expecting them to develop the story of them, but never did. When the movie ended, you didn't know for sure if the story was over or not. The 11 year old purposely loses the national spelling bee at the last moment, even tho it was a word she knew. My whole family watched this movie together and it was one we all booed at the end and felt to be a complete waste of time.
Depressing
2007-12-17 - This is a depressing and confusing movie. Nothing like what I thought it would be from the DVD cover! It was painful to watch such morose children. The dad was villified although it seemed to me that he was guilty of nothing more than being annoying. What kept me watching was wondering what the mom was up to, but that turned out to be so weird it was beyond my understanding. And what was the deal with Eliza on the floor in the hotel room? A spiritual experience? Not a movie to recommend at all.
