this is a confident feature debut: Minhal Baig fills her frame with potent, loaded images and puts across a clear vision; "Hala" is keenly observed and quietly powerful, and we'll be hearing much more from the talented women on either side of its lens
one of the year's best dramas; Hala is a gift; Hala's life is messy and dynamic, and her growth mostly internal, but her story is valuable and powerful all the same. "Hala" is, above all else, an exquisite exercise in tenderness
Minhal Baig offers up a story that's rarely told onscreen; Unfortunately, the touches that endear us to Hala during the first half of the film are almost nonexistent in its second half, adding up to a choppy, incoherent finish
a small but sensitively told coming-of-age drama; This is a persistently quiet film; always human and alive, but also told with the solemnity of someone who knows they're sending a ripple through a body of water that's been still for thousands of years
by Norm Gidney [Film Threat ]
