Hamnet

A powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, "Hamlet".

STORY:   A

The story flows with the current of life itself. 

This film imagines what happened around two historical facts we know to be true: that Shakespeare had a son named Hamnet who died at age 11, and that a few years later one of the greatest plays ever written, Hamlet (a name that was interchangeable in those days with Hamnet) is produced.

Despite its many fictional elements, the movie feels unbelievably real because it crawls along chronologically, the way real life does. We travel arm in arm with Will (Paul Mescal) and Agnes (Jessie Buckley) as they navigate the comedies and tragedies of life.

The film’s authenticity makes its emotional impact all the more powerful once it arrives.

PEOPLE:   A+

Buckley delivers a career defining performance.

Paul Mescal is extraordinary as Shakespeare, a man who has trouble talking to people and prefers the hidden rooms of his imagination.

The Jupe brothers (Jacobi and Noah, who play Hamnet and Hamlet respectively) fill the film with tenderness and wonder that charm us to pieces before the inevitable tragedy arrives.

But this is unequivocally Buckley’s movie. Her raw, throbbing, soaring performance will be talked about for years. 

Her eyes - the way they look at her children, her husband, the dewy moss carpeting tree roots, the crowd of people surrounding her at the end of the film - say what 1,000 words can’t. They reveal an inner life burning within Agnes that can barely be contained.

FILM NERD STUFF:   A+

Leave no trace.

Directors such as Christopher Nolan or Steven Spielberg have styles that are easy to spot. They arrive on set with a vision and through sheer will and great artistry, proceed to bring that vision to life. We see their (wonderful) fingerprints over every frame of their movies.

Writer-director Chloe Zhao directs not from a sense of vision, but from a sense of discovery. Instead of using her will to impose her vision, she shows up to set and observes. What’s the weather doing? How are the actors feeling? Instead of creating moments, she discovers them.

As a result, her fingerprints are nowhere to be found. We get a film that feels unbelievably real, and - I know I’m repeating myself but it applies here as well - that realism creates a world that feels so genuine that the tragedy’s emotional hammer hits us that much harder.

ONE BIG LESSON:   A+

We all grieve differently.

Agnes and Will’s differences are what attract them to each other and make their lives so fruitful. But those differences also make them grieve their son’s loss in very diverging ways. 

Agnes lives with abundant presence in the world. Will typically prefers living inside his imagination. His grief is there, but it’s largely invisible. 

A vital piece of grieving is communing with others who are grieving as well. In seeing their grief, we realize we are not alone. We just have to remember that not everyone allows their grief to be seen right away.  

FINAL COMMENTS:

There is a Japanese art form called kintsugi. When a vase or piece of pottery breaks, they use a golden lacquer to mend it. The result is something beautiful, something new, something that celebrates one’s flaws and reminds us of the power of self-transformation.

Zhao applies kintsugi to her audience. Yes, this movie will completely break you and leave you in sobbing pieces. But instead of rolling the credits and leaving you in pieces, the film begins putting you back together again. You walk out new, transformed, and a bit more beautiful than when you walked in.

Hamnet is an absolute masterpiece. It’s the movie of the year so far for me. It’s the most intense, moving emotional experience I’ve had in a movie theater since I really can’t say when.

See it in a theater. Not because it bursts with pyrotechnics like a lot of Marvel movies. Not because it’s got race cars screaming across the big screen. See it in a theater because it’s important to go through intense emotional experiences with a group of strangers.

FINAL GRADE:   A+

Hamnet is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG-13. Common Sense says 13+