Hamnet

Hamnet
Starring Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn
Directed by Chloe Zhao

Chloe Zhao is one of cinema's most powerful directors when she's given the right material, and even does amicable work when they're not so pleasing. "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" and "The Rider" helped emerge her as a director who excels at making characters come to life in vivid reality when it's confined to a few people, and uses the landscape to create a natural feel. She continued this with "Nomadland" which earned her an Oscar for Best Director (along with Best Picture and Best Actress for Frances McDormand) that crafted McDormand's character as a believable, relatable character set against the idyllic backdrop of the American Southwest. Then she directed the MCU film "Eternals" and tried to bring her style to a big-budget spectacle, and sadly it missed the mark because she had to introduce ten new Marvel characters to an audience that wasn't prepared for her art style. She was the first MCU director to use actual locations instead of green screens, and tried her best to tell the stories of these new characters but was unable to effectively communicate her style in that fashion. Fortunately, she's returned to her roots with "Hamnet," centering on a couple dealing with the biggest trauma imaginable and how it shaped both of their lives - and one of them is the most well-known poet in world history.

When he was younger, William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) meets Agnes (Jessie Buckley) in the woods, and rumors about her being the daughter of a witch who cast spells in the woods haunted her. Seeing through the fake stories, William falls in love and the two wed, soon giving birth to a daughter and then twins - Judith (Olivia Lynes) and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). Hamnet looked up to his father and desperately wanted to be a part of his plays, but when William heads out to London Judith comes down with the Bubonic plague. Hamnet wishes for the plague to pass onto him, and soon Judith recovers while Hamnet comes down with the sickness. Despite everything, Hamnet passes away before William returns home.

The death of Hamnet sends Agnes and William into spirals of their own, sending the two on separate paths. Agnes is angry at what happened and is looking to find someone to blame, while William transfixes his pain to paper and pens his play Hamlet. Agnes, not knowing what William was doing, is given a flyer for the play and attends, seeing the life of her son play out on the stage and seeing what would've happened if he had gotten older.

"Hamnet" is a stirring, simple story that focuses on the biggest grief any parent endures, and transforms that grief into art that touches the lives of millions ("Hamnet" is a fictionalized story, as Shakespeare didn't write Hamlet for his son in real life). It's Chloe Zhao at her absolute best, and career best performances from Jessie Buckley (the Oscar frontrunner) and Paul Mescal. It's an unforgettable story of love, loss, and using your grief to create something beautiful. 

We see Agnes first as a woman of the wood, who seemingly could be what the townspeople say - a daughter of a wood witch. She is seen from above laying in a ball in the woods, and looks like the woods birth her as she rises. It's haunting, and profoundly Zhao. Jessie Buckley gives life to Agnes as a free spirited woman who falls in love, becomes a mother, and goes through the typical married life existence: getting into playful fights with her husband and playing with and teaching her children. It makes the devastating moment all the more devastating when Hamnet passes away, and Agnes looses her will to live. She is destroyed by what happened, and Buckley leans all in on the performance. It crescendos when she attends the play and sees her son all grown up, living the life she believed he was supposed to live (in another stroke of genius, Zhao cast real-life brothers Jacobi and Noah Jupe to play the actual Hamnet and the Hamlet on stage, culminating in a stunning scene reminiscent of the film's beginning and also one of this year's most powerful scenes in general). 

Paul Mescal is equally powerful as the Bard, who moreso distances himself from his emotions and instead writes them down, but has his own soul-crushing moment as well. He is ever the professional, and puts his all into his work that is haunting and moving, even in the smaller, more intimate moments. 

Yet the film belongs to Buckley, and she dominates the screen in an awards-worthy performance that is filled with heart, humor, and soul-crushing sadness told believably and personally that will affect anyone who had to go through that same tragedy. 

The Score: A+