splicetoday.com
Sometimes small is better. || Noah Berlatsky
- Review score
- 4.8
Honeyjoon Movie Review
Bottom Line
Choose it for intimate mother-daughter chemistry, tender grief, dry humor, and beautiful Azores imagery. Skip it if you need a fully developed political subplot, consistent tonal flow, or a more expansive story.
Best for
Best for viewers who enjoy intimate family dramedies, nuanced stories about grief, strong female performances, and visually expressive travel settings.
Not for
Less suited to viewers seeking a plot-heavy drama, a fully developed political narrative, broad comedy, or a consistently uplifting treatment of loss.
Verdict
Honeyjoon succeeds most when it stays close to June and Lela, letting Amira Casar and Ayden Mayeri turn awkward bickering, buried grief, and uneasy affection into a believable mother-daughter bond. Reviewers also consistently admire the painterly Azores cinematography, playful shifts between film and phone footage, and humor that keeps the sadness from becoming oppressive. The divide comes from the movie’s ambition: its Iranian diaspora and Woman, Life, Freedom material is meaningful to some critics but shoehorned, underbaked, or performative to others. The compact runtime keeps the film light and focused, yet it also limits character backstory and thematic development. Even with those constraints, the emotional honesty, strong performances, and humane view of grief make it a rewarding small-scale dramedy.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
32 reviewed features- Very positive 4.5-5.0 47% 15 features
- Positive 3.5-4.4 47% 15 features
- Neutral 2.5-3.4 3% 1 feature
- Negative 1.5-2.4 3% 1 feature
- Very negative below 1.5 0% 0 features
Pros
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Reviewers value the lived-in arguments, understated revelations, and smartphone footage for making the relationship and vacation feel authentic rather than mechanically plotted.
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The supporting cast is a strong complement to the leads, with José Condessa’s soulful guide and António Maria’s deadpan concierge singled out for adding warmth and humor.
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One review singles out the cross-cutting between mother and daughter as the film’s most powerful sequence, using separation to show them exchanging approaches to grief.
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Sexuality is handled openly but with restraint. One reviewer specifically praises it as low-key, matter-of-fact, and far removed from raunch-com excess.
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The two leads carry the film with performances repeatedly described as heartfelt, perfectly cast, and emotionally attuned. Their work gives the compact story much of its depth.
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The visual style combines island vistas, soft compositions, Super 8 texture, crisp digital images, and vertical phone footage. This varied approach is consistently identified as one of the film’s most attractive qualities.
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The film has demonstrated strong festival appeal, and one critic argues it deserves a much wider audience. Its intimate mother-daughter focus and emotional accessibility are the main reasons cited.
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The closing movement is generally satisfying, with the leads reaching a subtler, more comfortable place rather than undergoing a simplistic transformation.
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The Azores are photographed with painterly beauty, striking wides, phone imagery, and textured film footage. Reviewers especially like how the landscapes reflect grief and emotional distance rather than functioning as scenery alone.
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The film’s central message is compassionate: grief has no single path, joy can coexist with loss, and healing means moving forward while carrying the absent person with you. Its political message is more contested.
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Most reviewers find the mother-daughter chemistry magnetic and believable, especially in the pair’s bickering, tenderness, and uneven attempts to reconnect. One critic felt the staging made them seem less directly engaged with each other.
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The film frequently lands as moving, compassionate, and personally recognizable, especially for viewers familiar with parental loss. Some critics feel the heavier late moments or underdeveloped ideas blunt the intended impact.
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The acting is the clearest consensus strength, with the central performances repeatedly called captivating, vulnerable, funny, and emotionally precise. A few dissenting reviews find the staging distancing or one performance somewhat one-note.
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Even mixed reviews tend to find the film enjoyable, helped by its humor, sensuality, scenery, and compact scale. Its emotional heaviness may limit the uplift for some viewers.
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The synth score is praised for fitting the lighthearted, feel-good atmosphere and supporting a sequence of sexual tension.
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Humor is a major asset, ranging from dry awkwardness and deadpan side characters to bodily jokes and generational bickering. Most reviewers feel it relieves the grief without trivializing it, though one finds the comic structure weak.
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The screenplay is often praised for balancing humor, pathos, and precise character detail. Its recurring weakness is overambition: some reviewers find the themes heavy-handed, jokes under-supported, or storylines insufficiently developed.
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The meditative pace and brief runtime often feel patient, brisk, and appropriate to the intimate story. A negative review instead experiences long emotional plateaus.
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Many reviewers admire the balance of sorrow, humor, sensuality, and political context. Others find the transitions uneven or the accumulation of modes tonally confusing.
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Direction is usually praised for actor work, restraint, emotional honesty, and the intelligent use of setting. Dissenters describe the framing as overly cautious or the style as effective but visually conservative.
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The story earns considerable praise as an intimate, compassionate account of grief and a difficult mother-daughter bond. Negative reviews find it too slight, overstuffed, or emotionally withdrawn.
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June and Lela often feel lived-in, specific, and recognizably difficult with each other. More critical reviewers say the short runtime leaves backstory thin or reduces them to generational and cultural types.
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The Iranian diaspora and Woman, Life, Freedom material divides reviewers. Some find it layered, illuminating, and naturally integrated, while others call it shoehorned, underbaked, or performative.
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The grief drama can build to strong catharsis and poignancy, especially when centered on June and Lela. A skeptical review finds the reserved telling too withdrawn to fully work.
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The film’s treatment of grief, identity, happiness, freedom, and diaspora can feel rich and humane. The main disagreement is whether those ideas are subtly layered or only surface-level and underdeveloped.
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As a grief dramedy with flirtation, politics, and family comedy, the film is appealing but divisive. Several reviewers praise the blend, while others find the genre mix tonally confused or insufficiently developed.
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The 70–80 minute length is both a strength and a limitation. It keeps the film compact and prevents overstaying, but several reviewers wish it had more room for backstory and political themes.
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The dialogue is praised at its best for naturalistic bickering and culturally specific behavior. A more negative review finds some exchanges stiff and written mainly to deliver exposition.
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The film’s central mother-daughter journey is clear, but one review argues that an overambitious plot introduces more concepts than the short runtime can coherently develop.
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The film avoids obvious raunch-com mechanics and big manufactured reversals, which gives its small-scale grief story distinction. Another critic still considers the broader diaspora setup conventional.
Cons
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Reviewers see personal specificity in the film’s grief story and visual mix, but some consider the diaspora framework familiar or the overall result too plain to feel fully original.
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The romantic and sexual thread adds sensual energy, but one critic finds the cautious framing unable to generate enough excitement between June and João.
Cast & Creators
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DTF hotel conciergeMaria’s small hotel-concierge role is remembered as a charismatic deadpan highlight.
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JoãoCondessa’s João is praised as soulful, warm, gentle, and unusually layered for a supporting guide character. His philosophical presence helps connect the two leads.
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CinematographerGowland’s cinematography is a major strength, using painterly landscapes, texture, stillness, and unobtrusive framing to make the Azores reflect the characters’ emotional states.
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LelaCasar is widely praised for subtlety, impeccable timing, lived-in wisdom, and the ability to make Lela’s grief physically palpable. Even more critical reviews tend to identify her as a standout.
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JuneMayeri is frequently called funny, vulnerable, charming, and revelatory, with several reviews describing the performance as career-best or star-making. A minority finds some larger moments unconvincing or the character too one-note.
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ComposerThe synth-based score is credited with supporting the film’s lighthearted tone and sensual tension.
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Writer/DirectorReviewers often praise Mehrel’s writing, actor direction, restraint, and ability to mix grief with humor. The main criticism is that her ambitious political and thematic strands can feel heavy-handed, cautious, or underdeveloped.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Movies, this product is above average in sexual content level, realism, screenplay quality, below average in romance quality.
Summary
8 compared features- Above average 0.4+ pts higher 88% 7 features
- Same as average within 0.3 pts 0% 0 features
- Below average 0.4+ pts lower 13% 1 feature
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| sexual content level | 5.0 | 3.0 | +2.0 |
| realism | 5.0 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| screenplay quality | 4.4 | 2.8 | +1.5 |
| editing quality | 5.0 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| romance quality | 2.0 | 3.7 | -1.7 |
| pacing | 4.3 | 2.8 | +1.5 |
| ending satisfaction | 4.8 | 3.5 | +1.3 |
| supporting cast performance | 5.0 | 3.9 | +1.1 |
FAQ
Is Honeyjoon mainly a sad grief drama?
Grief is central, but reviewers repeatedly describe the film as funny, sensual, awkward, and warm as well as melancholic. Its strongest moments let sorrow and pleasure coexist.
Are the performances good?
Yes. Amira Casar and Ayden Mayeri are the strongest point of consensus, praised for believable chemistry, emotional subtlety, humor, and vulnerability.
Does the Iranian political subplot work?
Opinions are divided. Some reviewers find it insightful and integral to the diaspora themes, while others consider it underbaked, shoehorned, or too performative.
Is the movie visually impressive?
Reviewers consistently praise the Azores landscapes, soft painterly compositions, Super 8 texture, and playful vertical phone footage.
Does the short runtime help or hurt?
Both. The roughly 75-minute length keeps the story compact and prevents it from overstaying, but several critics wanted more backstory and thematic development.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
ukfilmreview.co.uk
Honeyjoon film review by UK film critic William Curzon. Starring Ayden Mayeri, Amira Casar, José Condessa directed by Lilian T. Mehrel.
- Review score
- 4.8
battleroyalewithcheese.com
While it's hard for Honeyjoon to feel completely different in a saturated genre there’s just enough here to consider booking the trip.
- Review score
- 3.3
nytimes.com
In this strange, sensual dramedy, a lusty 20-something and her grieving Persian-British mother travel to an island resort meant for honeymooners.
- Review score
- 4.0
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
Aftersun (2021)
- Similar: digital, vertical phone, and Super 8 imagery The film is compared with Aftersun for alternating contemporary digital footage and nostalgic film textures.
Call Me By Your Name
- Compared: Amira Casar performance and role depth Casar’s subtle earlier work is invoked to emphasize the greater depth and range of her role here.
Consider This Instead
If you want better romance quality
Choose The Invite. It scores 4.5 vs 2.0 for romance quality, with a 4.5 overall score.
If you want better theme depth
Choose Romería. It scores 5.0 vs 3.7 for theme depth, with a 4.5 overall score.
If you want better originality
Choose Maddie’s Secret. It scores 4.5 vs 2.7 for originality, with a 4.0 overall score.
If you want better cultural representation
Choose Leviticus. It scores 5.0 vs 3.8 for cultural representation, with a 4.2 overall score.
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