--- title: "Honeyland: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/honeyland/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/honeyland" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 17 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Honeyland (2019): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 17 reviews: 16 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. ## Film Comment Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 March 2019. The review presents Honeyland as an exemplary work of direct cinema and a moving ecological parable contrasting sustainable beekeeping with reckless exploitation. It singles out the rapturously beautiful images captured under difficult conditions for praise. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-truth-hurts/) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Sheri Linden Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 January 2019. Festival review. The critic praises the film's intimate portrayal of a traditional beekeeper's life and its themes of tradition, loneliness, and human-nature relationship, noting its universal resonance in an age of environmental crises. It highlights the exceptional access and vérité style as strengths, while pointing to the conflict with new neighbors as a key dramatic element. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/honeyland-review-1177112/) ## Empire — Helen O'Hara Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 9 September 2019. The critic finds the documentary a gorgeous, closely observed character study that plays like a thoughtful indie drama. It is praised for its intimate storytelling, stunning cinematography, and sensitive portrayal of a vanishing way of life through the expressive face and experiences of its central subject. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/honeyland/) ## IndieWire — David Ehrlich Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 28 March 2019. The review presents the film as a bitter and beautiful Sundance-winning documentary that focuses on a single beekeeper as though our collective future hinges on her hives, emphasizing environmental balance and the protagonist's central role. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/honeyland-review-macedonia-beekeeper-documentary-1202054212/) ## Los Angeles Times — Justin Chang Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 July 2019. The film is a graceful evocation of interspecies coexistence that becomes a harrowing portrait of environmental and ethical imbalance when neighbors disrupt sustainable beekeeping practices. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-07-25/honeyland-review-documentary-beekeeper) ## RogerEbert.com — Monica Castillo Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 26 July 2019. The film meditates on the balance between humans and nature through the story of a solitary beekeeper whose world is disrupted by new neighbors who ignore her sustainable methods. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/honeyland-2019) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 11 September 2019. The critic praises this immersive documentary about a traditional beekeeper in North Macedonia whose sustainable practices are disrupted by disruptive new neighbors, turning it into a parable on resource exploitation. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/11/honeyland-review-beekeeping-bees-north-macedonia-documentary) ## The AV Club — Charles Bramesco Rating B+. 23 July 2019. The critic sees the film as couching an apocalyptic warning in a beekeeping documentary, praising the tender portrait of Hatidze while highlighting the conflict with neighbors as a metaphor for resource depletion and environmental issues. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/honeyland-couches-an-apocalyptic-warning-in-a-beekeepin-1836624795) ## Little White Lies — Lillian Crawford Rating 3/4/3. 13 September 2019. The critic finds it a meditative documentary worth some of its buzz. It offers an artful study of culture, poverty and ecology focused on an unlikely Macedonian beekeeper. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/honeyland) ## Slant Magazine — Keith Watson Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2019. The review praises the intimate, patient portrait of the beekeeper's disappearing way of life, highlighting her sustainable approach contrasted with neighbors' exploitation, and its reminder of better ways to interact with the planet. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/honeyland-review/) ## Time Out — Alice Savile Rating 4/5. 9 September 2019. This is a mesmerising documentary that provides a stinging reminder to respect nature. The filmmakers have distilled raw footage into an elemental struggle between ancient tradition and greed, with incredible observational footage of the central beekeeper. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/honeyland) ## Variety — Guy Lodge Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 February 2019. Festival review. Macedonian filmmakers deliver a visually poetic observational debut that accrues subtle power as an environmental allegory from the clash between a lone beekeeper's sustainable methods and newcomers' greedier approach. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/honeyland-review-1203124547/) ## The Times — Ed Potton Rating ★★★★☆. 13 September 2019. The patient documentary meditates on rural hardship and rhythms before becoming an intimate, quietly heartbreaking portrait of a beekeeper whose way of life is threatened by unruly neighbors. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/honeyland-review-quietly-heartbreaking-meditation-on-rural-life-zk0rxcpx9) ## The New Yorker — Richard Brody Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 August 2019. The documentary constructs a gripping dramatic narrative around a beekeeper threatened by neighbors but frustrates by eliding factual context and molding reality into tidy cinematic forms. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/honeyland-reviewed-a-gripping-frustrating-documentary-about-a-beekeepers-fragile-isolation) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 2 April 2019. The directors observe the life of a Macedonian beekeeper with patience and without sentimentality, allowing humanism to emerge in both joyful and painful moments. The arrival of a neighboring family introduces real-world tensions around economics and tradition that the film captures with ambivalence. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/honeyland-2019-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) ## The Skinny — Katie Goh Rating ★★★★. 9 September 2019. Honeyland is hailed as one of the year’s strongest documentaries for its surprising ability to draw viewers in through fly-on-the-wall observation of tradition versus modernity. The critic singles out the sweeping honey-coloured fields, intimate interiors and gorgeous close-ups of the bees for praise. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/honeyland) ## The Playlist — Gary Garrison Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 9 February 2019. Festival review. The film is a quiet, passive portrait of a disappearing way of life centered on a beekeeper and her mother, which becomes mesmerizing once its languid pace is embraced. The arrival of a nomadic family adds conflict and humanizes all parties involved in a way that avoids easy villains. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/honeyland-sundance-review-20190209/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/honeyland.md