Popular reviews

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  Review by jing ★★★★

  Based on true incidents, Hive tells the story of a woman, Fahrije, whose husband has gone missing during the Kosovo War—in a village where most of the remaining members are widows, sisters, daughters, or elderly patriarchs. Unable to place all her faith in her husband’s return, Fahrije fights to earn her own living in a village shaped by patriarchal values, determined to build a future for her and the other women.

  Blerta Basholli directs her debut with pensiveness, interweaving handheld shots with raw performances to create a both quiet and powerfully moving film. Through a well-paced screenplay, this movie examines Fahrije’s emotions and her motivations, but most of all, her resilience. Hive’s and thus its protagonist’s quietude are engulfing, and yet, this…

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  Review by Lucy ★★½

  SUNDANCE 2021: film #29

  “you made a mistake”

  intimate and compact. the performances are grounded and the score is wonderful, but it doesn’t go much beyond that for me

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  Review by Joshua Arispe ★★★½

  Sundance Film Festival 2021

  War can leave behind a devastating legacy. In the case of Kosovo, a country which saw massacre in the end of the 20th century, the horrors still linger on. Years after the war ended, families cope with the death of loved ones, or worse yet, are left in the dark about their fate, as some of them don’t even return home. But Hive revolves specifically on the story of Fahrije (a captivating Yllka Gashi), a mother who can no longer afford to dwell on her MIA husband and must find a way to make ends meet. And in her path towards self-sufficiency, societal forces threaten her resilience, inciting conflict that comes from a nation that still…

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  Review by pirateneckbeard ★★★½ 2

  This is one of those films that flips the coin of the expression "How do you sleep at night" with "How do you wake up in the morning". I am sure that they tightened some narrative elements here and there but Fahrije(Yllka Gashi) gets up and deals with so many details in this challenging time and region that is just commendable and really Yllka Gashi captures her admirable spirit constantly persevering through constant issues mainly put upon her by men and luckily has a sad safety net of other women/wives who likewise are trying to find out where there (probably deceased) husbands are even if it is for closer while pooling there money together to keep all of whats left…

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  Review by {Todd} ★★★

  "There's not much happening." - Fahrije,

  - 2021 Ranked: boxd.it/aL2Ys
  - Sundance 2021 Ranked: boxd.it/b1NDo

  More beekeeping please.

  I enjoyed this but there was way too much staring. The contrast the film makes between individual and state level struggle in Kosovo is sobering and impactful. There is a lot here about the dignity of women living under repressive systems. The cinematography is pretty and the lead by Yllka Gashi is really great. The only problem is that this is boring and feels a lot longer than it should be. After a while you kind of get the point and it feels redundant because there isn't enough happening to keep you engaged.

  Moderate recommendation.

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  Review by Graham

  Born in Kosovo in 1983, Blerta Basholli wrote and directed the crushingly good Zgjoi, which is currently taking its well deserved place among the true greats of the Criterion Channel. As a drama, it's informative and at times has a documentary feel to it, but at its heart Hive is a story about a woman trying to survive in the fallout from a horrendously cruel war following the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

  Fahrije exists inside her family and is surrounded by busybody townsfolk, yet is lost and alone in her own mind. Struggling with a decision to either routinely sift through the dead bodies arriving by the truckload and wait for a husband that may never…

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  Review by Mahmoud Aladdin ★★★★★ 4

  "وجائزة الأوسكار لأفضل فيلم أجنبي لعام ٢٠٢٢ تذهب إلى.. Hive.. كوسوفو"
  هذا ما أتمناه أنا وما يستحقه ذلك الفيلم..
  
  لقد لمس قلبي..
  عبث في دفاتر ذكرياتي..
  فاسترجعت معه ذكريات جرائم ارتُكِبت ضد مسلمي كوسوفو فأصابت قلب كل مسلم على وجه الأرض، بل قلب كل امرئ يمتلك في جوف صدره ذرة من الرحمة..

  إن هذا الفيلم ينطق بمشاهده ولقطاته وصمته وبكاؤه.. كل تفصيلة في هذا الفيلم تم نحتها في المكان الصحيح.. كل ما أراد أن يوصله إلينا نجح فيه ومن دون تلقين.. يكفي ذلك الهدوء الذي صاحب "فخرية" الزوجة المكلومة على زوجها المفقود والتي لا تعرف هل هو في عداد الشهداء بأمر الله أم أن أنفاسه لا تزال تشهق وتزفر في مكان مجهول..

  إن الهدوء الذي يصاحب "فخرية" لم يكن لا…

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  Review by claira curtis ★★★ 3

  Few griefs leave as deep a wound as the griefs that form from the unknown. The grief of not knowing is one whose sting very rarely waivers. Hive explores that concept, the grieving without knowing, in a very raw way. 

  Not only that, but Hive provides a very refreshing feminist perspective outside of the “standard” Westernized view.

  Hive’s strength can be accredited to two elements: a quietly powerful lead performance by Yllka Gashi and through the fact that Hive is based on a painfully real story. 

  Honesty and vulnerability amplified and presented on full display. Visually, I wish there had been some more style incorporated but by limiting that rather extensively, it ensures that Gashi’s performance remains at the forefront for the entire runtime. 

  Sundance Watch #27 

  2021 Ranked

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  Review by john ★★½

  2021 Ranked

  Sundance #21

  **Fahrije is a mother of two kids, who is awaiting her husband's return from wherever the war has displaced him, while also taking care of her elderly father-in-law. When her bees stop producing honey, she acquires her driver’s license and ventures into the city to sell homemade ajvar in a local grocery store.**

  The entire time I was just hoping Fahrije would get in her car and drive away from all these miserable fucks she's surrounded by. Her kids suck. her father-in-law sucks. Most of the women she's trying to help suck.

  The movie starts strong, but kind of fizzles at around the forty minute mark and just never recovers. I think in part, it has…

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  Review by Jay D 's Watching ★★★

  Despite (or because of) the fact that I'm pretty sure more than half the potential audience would hate one or the other, this fact-based drama would make a really interesting little double bill with last year's THE BEEKEEPER, I think

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  Review by Juju Hot Takes 🇨🇦 🇻🇳 ★★★★½

  “It gets resolved for you, for us it never will”

  in March 1999, the Kosovar village of Krusha e Madhe was the scene of a massacre perpetrated by Serbian forces, with 250 men and boys murdered. A brilliant tribute to Fahrije Hoti in this magnificent portrait, a woman must face up to the unknown and the pain of not knowing if she'll ever find her husband again, and the wickedness of the men in the village, who think that a woman's place is in the kitchen.

  This painful film is a message of hope, always keeping a straight face despite the prevailing patriarchy, and it's heartbreaking to watch them between the need to move forward for their families, and the impossibility of mourning the lost, so they all pull themselves together despite the rumors and hearsay by creating their own businesses, and this work is a real victory for life. A real feminist gem

  Criterion

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  Review by kevinyang ★★½ 5

  Listen the movie is fine and I have nothing against it for winning the awards it did...but let’s be honest, no one saw this