X
- 2019
- R
- Apple TV+
- 1 h 34 m
- 2019
- R
- Apple TV+
- 1 h 34 m
Summary Seventeen-year-old Pakistani American teenager Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan) struggles to balance desire with her familial, cultural and religious obligations. As she comes into her own, she grapples with a secret that threatens to unravel her family.
Directed By: Minhal Baig
Written By: Minhal Baig
- 2019
- R
- Apple TV+
- 1 h 34 m
- 2019
- R
- Apple TV+
- 1 h 34 m
Hala
75
3.9
Where to Watch
Summary Seventeen-year-old Pakistani American teenager Hala (Geraldine Viswanathan) struggles to balance desire with her familial, cultural and religious obligations. As she comes into her own, she grapples with a secret that threatens to unravel her family.
Directed By: Minhal Baig
Written By: Minhal Baig
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
75
91% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
9% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
75
91% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
9% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
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 sincerely hopes that this is the first of many collaborations between Viswanathan and Baig. Rarely do those behind the camera feel as sync with those in front of the camera as what is conveyed in Hala.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 20 User Ratings
3.9
30% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
25% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
45% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 20 User Ratings
3.9
30% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
25% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
45% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
Good and beautiful movie. Solid narrative and acting. It doesn’t add nothing new but it is very well made.
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Even though the representation of this story focuses on a stereotype that also happens to be a reality for some the film works pretty good.
As I said, focusing on a single point of view limits its message but it doesn't stop being important because after all, when religion and traditions'' forbid you from doing anything outside their norms is terrible.
But it's completely worth watching and I have to say special mention to Geraldine Viswanathan who achieves the best work of her short career.
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If Baig’s writing is at times thin and excessively pointed — like a classroom discussion about what it means to live an authentic life — her grasp of mood is spot on.
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.
Although its storytelling is at times naggingly staid, its central characterizations teem with complexity and sensitivity, and for that, it’s a modest coming-of-age gem.
Writer-director Baig has made a coming-of-age charmer that’s adamantly ordinary. Her script has the melody of John Hughes and early Amy Heckerling played with a few minor chords.
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.
(Mauro Lanari)
To the adolescent identity crisis the film adds marital, intergenerational, interethnic tensions and an Elettra complex, going overweight as its eponymous young protagonist.
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This film is so two-dimensional and superficially plotted that it collapses under any real scrutiny, it's attempt at examination of a complex cultural subject clearly offending and polarising some of it's audience, and while I commend the young lead actor for bringing depth to her role with an expressive performance and proficient use of a skateboard (and I hope and imagine it will be a good launch-vehicle for her), despite her character's somewhat unbelievable choices, I am left bewildered and annoyed that this production that would not look out-of-place at a second-year film student's festival screening has achieved flagship platform positioning on Apple TV+ they must have been desperate for diverse content, fair enough, but I do not recommend you watch this film as it will probably leave you confused, annoyed and possibly offended!
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