‘Hawa’ Review: A Big-Hearted Contemporary Fable About a Unique Parisian Kid’s Life-Affirming Quest
Tomris Laffly A bold celebration of taking up space in places you’re told you don’t belong, “Hawa” is a crowd-pleasing fable with a fluffy heart, fierce spirit and disarming sense of humor. These qualities also define the titular heroine of Maïmouna Doucouré’s lovely sophomore feature, co-written by Doucouré, Alain-Michel Blanc, Zangro and David Elkaim. Hawa is both sensitive and fearless while she roams the streets of Paris on a life-defining quest with her dependable scooter and unapologetic blonde afro, seeing the world through her idiosyncratic coke-bottle glasses as she earns the help and goodwill of a parade of strangers. Don’t be alarmed by the crowded group of writers here — despite the many cooks in the kitchen, “Hawa,” under the baton of Doucouré, is as coherently envisioned and tightly structured as movies come. You might recall the gifted Doucouré’s name and recognize her style from her debut “Cuties,” a prize winner at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival whose fate was overshadowed by an unfair and misguided controversy that erupted about it later that year. In her equally confident second feature, the defiant Doucouré puts to work the same vigorous essence at the core of her previous film, one that comprehends the complicated headspace of burdened, contemporary young ones and splits the difference between a touch of magical realism and social drama.