Set in South Carolina in 1964, the film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Fanning) a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Burton). To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Bettany), Lily flees with Rosaleen (Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Okonedo and Keys), Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna.
I get why Dakota Fanning keeps getting offered these motherless waif roles in Southern-fried melodramas. Those saucer eyes, that lunar pallor, the Georgia accent, the guts to rat her hair into a dull mat and skulk around in shabby rooms that scream my-daddy-drinks. What I don't get is why she keeps taking them.
Not that The Secret Life of Bees, Gina Prince-Bythewood's high-minded and expensive-looking adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's bestselling novel, exists on the same plane as Hounddog, the scrappy little howler otherwise hysterically (and speciously, it turns out, but that's show business) known as "the Dakota Fanning rape movie." On the contrar...
Like a mouthful of honey, The Secret Life of Bees is cloyingly sweet and gooey, and you're not quite sure you can swallow it undiluted. Based on Sue Monk Kidd's popular 2002 novel about Southern sisterhood during the civil rights movement and toplining Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah, the Fox Searchlight release should attract fans of the bestselling tome and arthouse patrons but will be held back from breakout biz by poor word of mouth.
Helmer Gina Prince-Bythewood, who adapted the book, apparently had one instructive word for her actors ("earnest!") and one for her d.p. ("signify!"). Opening in 1964 South Carolina, the story follows young Lily (Fann...
Secret Life of Bees
A real heart warming story about a girl growing up and trying to understand life. This was a fantastic movie and would definitely watch it again!
Loved it :)
The whole family enjoyed this family though it wasn't as appreciated quite so much by my husband (he fell asleep briefly!). It's possibly more suited for women as the film revolves around women and their relationships. I loved the quiet dignity of the black women despite living with deep rooted racism. I had read the book a few years ago which may have helped - I would definitely recommend this film - it is moving, emotional and sentimental yet addresses some disturbing issues.
A sweetly inspiring movie is a tough thing to pull off. At any moment it can veer into cloyingly sappy territory. The Secret Life of Bees walks that sticky line rather adeptly, never getting too sentimental, though it comes dangerously close and has its predictable aspects.
Based on the popular spiritually tinged novel by Sue Monk Kidd, the movie version is less treacly and more straightforward than the book. As directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball), it becomes a tale of personal exploration, the search for love and family. Its setting, North Carolina in the early 1960s, heightens its languorous mood, even as it touches on the racial t...
Secret Life of Bees, The
Some films are touching despite their overly direct, even crude, tugging at our emotions. And many people will no doubt...
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