Spelling Isn’t Everything!
Ever wonder what it would be like to inexplicably spell any
word imaginable? Eliza (Flora Cross) doesn’t have to wonder because for her it
just comes naturally. What doesn’t come naturally is her family
life. Her father Saul (Richard Gere) is obsessed with her winning the National
Spelling Bee. While the two prepare for the Bee, the other half of
their family, wife/mother, and brother seem to be unraveling emotionally and
physically. A family that seems normal on the outside might need a
miracle to understand one another on the inside.
Though you may think that Bee Season is a fun family
film about supporting their genius daughter/sister in winning a spelling
bee. Well lucky for you, I’m here to tell you that it certainly is
not. The real heart of the film is actually the mother’s emotional
downward spiral. All throughout you see her coming home at odd
hours, falling asleep in weird places, and holding little trinkets close to her
heart. So you get caught up in her story, wondering what is wrong,
and what will her story reveal. Which is fine, but then they should call the
film, A Woman Unraveled or something of the like, so that naïve people
like me don’t think they are renting a family film about a spelling bee.
Therefore if you take that into consideration the film isn’t half
bad, and does a good job at dragging out the mystery for a pretty dramatic
climax. So don’t rent Bee Season for the cute spelling Bee
story, rent it for the Woman Unraveling!
Motherly Advice: I stated previously it isn’t necessarily a family film and
it’s still rated PG-13 so here’s what you get with medium filters.
One scene that doesn’t show body parts, but is clear that the two are
having sex, complete with sound effects. Another scene that
briefly shows Saul and Mirriam having sex but it’s all fuzzed out so you don’t
see it clearly but your mind still picks up on what just happened.
Next, Saul and Aaron get into a pretty heated argument where all of the
swears are cleared but you see him mouthing the F word about 5 times.
A strong theme throughout the film is the topic of God. The
son gets interested in Hari Krishna and Saul is some sort of religious
professor, so a discussion about religion may come up if you are viewing it with
youngsters. I would think this film appropriate for ages 14+.
Trisha~ Queen Bee of Re-naming films!
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