The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

Simply A Masterpiece

Fresh and Exciting

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The Secret Life of Bees unlike the meticulous insect this film is named after is void of coherency and organisation. The book is thoughtful but the film just seems to block-out this need and produce a turgid, slow and queer tale.The story does not structurally hold form and their is no weightiness to the narrative. The Secret Life of Bees tirelessly regurgitates the usual devices to promote its themes, which are mostly weak and brittle. There comes a point in most films where you grasp what the film is about, and you can follow the story with a sense of purpose. The Life of Bees just doesn't provide that purpose it glides rather sub-consciously through a story.Queen Latifah is the only actress to bring character and a strong presence to the film. All the characters are one-dimensional, and you cannot be charmed by such artificiality. The film has a heart but it is firmly superficial and saccharine. The score is decidedly messy, it appears to just 'break-in' on the film, and create an abrupt interruption.The Secret Life of Bees struggles and struggles. The whole of the film fails to provide a firm platform of coherency and is a poor eccentric sort of fairytale. The film is confused and beats without purpose leaving an ugly sting in its tail.

I am a film buff, yet there are just a handful of films that blew me away emotionally at first watch. This is one of those films.I wasn't expecting this. I actually had gotten the DVD months ago and couldn't figure out why I hadn't seen it yet. I did not know the story, but I did like the cast and I had heard some good things. Even though I was a child at the time, that era has always fascinated and perplexed me. It's probably why my all time favorite TV series was "I'll Fly Away." This movie has a flawless cast. I was especially impressed with Dakota Fanning's continued development as an actress. But Jennifer Hudson and Sophie Okonedo were incandescent. Alicia Keys was a revelation in this film, though it took me a little while to warm up to her. And, Queen Latifah...well, this lady just seems to center everything.Movies to me are sometimes life-changing events. The ones that resonate the best are the ones that effectively give lessons about life.I guess if I mention that my all time favorite film is "A River Runs Through It," it might begin to explain why I instantly fell in love with this film. It has something profound to teach. And it does it with unforgettable imagery. Only time will tell if this film will stay with me like "River" did, but I suspect it will be a film I think about for quite some time.I have only watched the director's cut, so my comments are based on that, though I will go back and watch the theatrical version.This film truly is a gift.

This film is wonderful, exhilarating, joyful. The cast are all spectacularly talented, and this film is another of those 'secret classics' which don't get the Oscars but actually deserve them. Gina Prince-Bythewood, the woman director, has made an intensely sensitive film about women, and it ain't no chick flic, it is serious stuff. I was knocked out by the sheer talent of the actresses. An eye opener to me was the incredible Queen Latifah. Apparently she is some kind of 'hip hop queen', but I wouldn't know about that, preferring Bach myself. She also 'raps', and I am one of those people who does not like or understand what they call 'rapping' at all, so I am glad she spared us that in the film. I notice from her bio that she was a basketball star in high school. Now that I can well believe, as she has the same 'body confidence' that another basketball player, Barack Obama, has. The director made a feature film about basketball earlier, so maybe that is how she and Miss Hip Hop the Rapper came together. But this woman Queen Latifah is a major example of Something Else. She has super-star quality. Really, I wanted to just rush up and hug her, that is how wonderful I think she was. However, the finest job of acting in this film full of genius is to my mind undoubtedly that of Sophie Okonedo, who plays the character May Boatwright, whose older sister and protector is Queen Latifah. She portrays a girl so tormented by 'not being quite right in the head', and so over-sensitive that she bursts into tears at the slightest thing, that it is hard to believe she is acting. It is a poignant performance, expressing to perfection the desperation of such a person who knows there is something wrong with her but can do nothing about it. The third sister is played by Alicia Keys, in real life a talented musician as well, and she portrays an over-intense hard-as-nails young woman terrified of marital commitment. Into this family comes the now teenaged Dakota Fanning, 'running away from home' as it were. She is making some progress with her speaking. Instead of 80 percent of her words being mumbled it is now down to about 20 percent. If she could ever master speech so that everything she said was comprehensible and audible, she could become a major actress, as her acting abilities are coming along nicely, and she effortlessly dominates scenes as long as Queen Latifah is not around (who has a greater command of the camera). I must say however that Dakota Fanning looked very tired to me, and maybe she ought to take a few months off, as she could burn out if she doesn't watch it, having worked non-stop practically since she was in the womb (I'm amazed she didn't star in something as a foetus). As for the story, it is very moving and emotional, a study in human conflicts, traumas, and feelings. This is the kind of film that women make, whereas men prefer making films where everybody gets killed. There's a gender lesson there somewhere! In this film, not even hope gets killed. So that means there is still hope. Jennifer Hudson gives wonderful support as the character Rosaleen, who accompanies Dakota Fanning as she flees from her father to take refuge with these women who had once known her dead mother. This is a happy-sad story that tears and warms the heart at the same time. Any woman would love it, and even some men might like it in between all the crime movies and battle scenes which they normally watch, where the quality is so often judged quantitatively, i.e. by the body count or by the sizes of the explosions. Here the only quantities involved are the degrees of emotion, which are in the upper nineties at least.

The secret life of bees is a beautiful story. The acting is very strong and the all star cast make the movie flow really good. I love the story and i also cried while watching it, it has to be one of my favorite movies. Dakota Fanning is a strong actress and really shows the feeling of the movie, she has great on screen relationships with Jennifer Hudson and queen Latifah. A surprisingly good actress Alica Keys brings her own style to the movie and makes it work with her character June. Which i think would be very hard to play as the character has to deal with a lot of her own feelings, where most of the other characters in the film are trying to work where they fit into the world and the relationships around them. Paul Bettany truly surprised me with how dark he could be with the character of Lily's(Dakota Fanning) father. I'll recommend the movie to anyone.