Ehab Assal's mesmerisingly restless camera and a gaggle of spirited performances ensure there's never dull moment before the final bow.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2017

Directed by the twice Oscar-nominated Hany Abu-Assad, it is remarkable for dancing deftly between politics and melodrama without coming down heavily on either side.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2016

Tawfeek Barhom, in the central role, is an intense and magnetic presence.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 14, 2016

If ever there was a movie tailor-made to provide subtitle-reading training for the tween and teen kids of left-leaning parents, this is it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 11, 2016

If you're a fan of the classic streets-to-stardom formula, this is a solid rendition.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 8, 2016

Obviously anyone can see where this going, but director Abu-Assad wisely makes the journey fascinating by factoring in cultural and political considerations.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 24, 2016

Mohammad Assaf's (Tawfeek Barhom) quest to become the next Arab Idol plays out much in the same manner as the routine biographical backstory segment one expects to find on the talent contest just prior to a contestant taking to the stage.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 17, 2016

Beautifully shot, and with a powerful performance from Barhom, this is a biopic at its best.

| Jun 9, 2016

The Idol, has the kind of backstory reality show producers would plotz over - which they surely did, seeing as his vocal talents and performance chops made him the champion of the second season of Arab Idol.

| Jun 3, 2016

With the brighter, more optimistic and more conventional The Idol, [director Abu-Assad] doesn't completely abandon his particular point of view but channels it into a less confrontational and disturbing story.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 3, 2016

Like its protagonist, "The Idol" finds a sense of identity, hope and pride within a landscape of grim dispossession and fatalism.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 2, 2016

For me Abu-Assad is subtly twisting the knife in both sides at the same time: He perceives a relationship of mutual hatred and mutual dependency between Israelis and Palestinians, which has damaged both people perhaps beyond repair.

| May 29, 2016

For all its safe choices and standard narrative, The Idol succeeds in communicating its message that the Palestinian people deserve a voice and representation.

| Original Score: B- | May 28, 2016

The musical elements of the film aren't even the most compelling parts. They're actually surprisingly cheesy.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 27, 2016

Fans of Abu-Assad's earlier films may be puzzled by his subject matter, but they needn't worry that he has gone soft.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 27, 2016

Mr. Abu-Assad, who wrote the script with Sameh Zoabi, mounts an idealistic appreciation of music as a way of bridging boundaries through a unifying appeal to beauty, gliding past differences in the soulful pleasure of song.

| May 26, 2016

An uneven but charmingly earnest fictionalized account of Assaf's rise through the ranks of hopefuls on the reality contest "Arab Idol."

| May 26, 2016

Writer-director Hany Abu-Assad doesn't tell simple stories, even when he does.

| May 26, 2016

Often impeded by ham-fisted, inspirational dialogue, The Idol is not likely to earn Assaf more worldwide admirers, but for those who are already in his fan club, this film will be received like a bonus gift.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 26, 2016

Out of the war rubble emerges one of the most irresistible movies of the year.

| Original Score: 4/4 | May 26, 2016