… a beautiful film …

Full Review | Original Score: 18/20 | Dec 14, 2024

Much of the story’s moral force depends on the splendid Yllka Gashi, a presence of such forbidding strength that when her features soften even for a moment we are riveted.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2023

A hidden gem that should be sought out.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2023

A powerhouse of a true tale that's brought to the screen with a devastatingly potent lead performance, Hive is simply unshakeable.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2022

Films from the Balkans often connect back to the war in the 1990s ... While Basholli honors that past in her film, the focus on women in an area where misogyny still lingers takes the film in a whole new emotional direction.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 21, 2022

Blerta Basholli successfully depicts, with clear and simple language, the hostility that surrounds her: that exclusive place where women are not allowed to enter. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 14, 2022

The film is anchored by Gashi’s quietly commanding performance as a resilient woman who wants only to survive with dignity which, in the end, honors her husband more than suffering in silence.

Full Review | May 31, 2022

This is basically an underdog story, and Basholli handles the job expertly, making sure we are on board with Fahrije, and never allowing us to forget the backstory that motivates the characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 4, 2022

Basholli maintains a superbly understated approach, allowing big feelings to gurgle strongly under the surface. She captures the textures of this culture beautifully, finding powerfully warm expressions of humanity in between the darker ones.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 24, 2022

Bashollis debut feature is a complex and compelling piece about the striking power of resilient women. It is a breath-taking film that will buzz and hum around your mind long after viewing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 22, 2022

The abuse of women in a remote Kosovan village, especially women engaged in business merely in support of their family, is raw and powerful in this modest, naturalistic fiction feature based on real life

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 21, 2022

The story... has a few formulaic steps, but it’s strong and engrossing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 20, 2022

Basholli understands that healing is possible, even if closure isn’t.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 19, 2022

Hive is a clipped, unsentimental, inspiring film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2022

The feel-good finale is well-earned and the glimpse of the women on whom the film is based is, for once, not merely a watermark of authenticity, but a genuinely moving vista.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2022

Hive cooks up a beautifully delicate rally for independence and justice, brought out through precise processes of the communal culinary experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2022

Basholli’s film is an intentionally tough watch, but its triumph-over-adversity message hits harder as a result.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 16, 2022

In its quiet but determined way, Hive gradually accumulates a kind of unarguable moral authority, driven by Gashi’s indomitable performance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 16, 2022

This is a richly intelligent drama, in which every word and every shot counts.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 16, 2022

Basholli returned to her native Kosovo in order to make this film and its understated story is fortified by her emotionally resonant, observant and raw approach to the subject matter.

Full Review | Mar 16, 2022