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There's this 16th century guy named Will. He lives on a farm in England. Will meets a girl, knocks her up, they marry, and build a happy family. Will travels for work. Then the unthinkable happens.

The first half plays like Malick with steadier pacing, light and texture, before shifting into something heavier. That's when Will becomes Shakespeare.

Artists across eras reflect the best and worst of humanity. The rest of us may lack their tools of expression, but we're all shaped by tragedy.

You don't need to love Shakespeare or theatre to feel the power of art, how it helps creators wrestle with pain and how it helps audiences recognize one another.

It's that connection that makes us human.

Watched at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

A beautiful, emotional, and raw tale about the tale of loss, romance, bonds, family, and the surroundings world of the Shakespeare family. I'm so happy Chloe Zhao is back to her roots as her direction on the atmosphere, writing, characters and tone is absolutely remarkable. On exploring the characters, their conflicts and movements, and emotions, within the gorgeous production designs, beautiful camerawork, sound designs and strong powerful direction on the themes and tone was balanced, creative and excellent. Zhao works well on exploring on the normal individuals lives revolving around social class, community and lives. While unlike focusing on the modern era, still, Zhao's approach with the classic era still remains powerful and effective.

The characters were interesting as observing the lives of a couple dealing with their problems, their goals, and the emotions gathering between is pretty good. Especially the performances as Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley and the rest of the cast were fantastic. I'm so happy to see Buckley receiving more recognition as she is very talented and deserves it.

The dialogue is pretty good, the musical score is great, and the writing, although admittedly, certain writing concepts didn't fully work at some points, was engaging, interesting and offered some pretty great themes to explore. Coming out from my screening, I'd overheard some calling this Oscar Bait and I disagree, Oscar Bait movies are much more forced, pretentious and those trying so hard to be so grand and excellent. Hamnet doesn't feel forced, it feels genuine, raw, realistic and at times, a good neo-realism.

Overall, I'm happy for Zhao to be back in her roots for what she is very good with. Definitely one of the best movies from the festival so far.

Days ago at a film screening hosted by the Asia Society, I met a veteran Hollywood producer and Oscar voter. She excitedly brought up Chloé Zhao's new film Hamnet, asserting with confidence that it will walk away with two to four major Awards next year.

Almost at the same time, I saw my friend, educator Dr. Baiyan Yang, praising the film on social media: "This not only proves Zhao's artistic mastery and humanistic depth, but also stands among the most emotionally powerful works of our time."

With such "preloaded" expectations, I began to look into the details. Indeed, the film is scheduled for a limited U. S. release on November 27, while its Telluride Film Festival premiere has already set critics abuzz: a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, a stellar 95 on Metacritic. The Playlist even declared it "another masterpiece from Zhao."

Adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed novel, Hamnet diverges from works that traditionally focus on Shakespeare's career, choosing instead to center on his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) and their young son who died prematurely. It portrays a family torn apart by plague yet striving for renewal. Zhao's documentary-like aesthetic and use of natural light make 16th-century rural England almost tangible-you can feel the dew on Agnes's fingertips and hear the sound of her breaking heart. The climax is especially moving: when she watches "Hamlet" performed at The Globe, the name of her lost child overlaps with the title character, and art fuses with life in a moment of profound poignancy.

Reports from the premiere noted many audience members were in tears. Critics called it "the most devastating film in years," emphasizing that it not only depicts a family tragedy but also reframes the emotional roots of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Performances by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal have been hailed as career-defining turns.

What intrigued me further was Zhao's own comment earlier this year. Reflecting on her Marvel experience with Eternals, she said it gave her insights into world-building, but Hamnet brought her back to the intimacy of contained storytelling: "When resources are limited, everything becomes more meaningful." That line has stayed with me.

From the heights of Nomadland, through the divisive reception of Eternals, and now to the triumphant acclaim of Hamnet, Zhao's work has always carried her signature: an empathy for outsiders, a reverence for nature and humanity, and a gift for transforming individual grief into universal emotion. In an era saturated with superhero blockbusters, a film with this kind of literary depth and emotional resonance feels like a breath of fresh air.

Personally, I am deeply looking forward to its official release in November. Hamnet is poised not only to be a heavyweight contender in awards season, but also to show us a director returning to her roots with greater maturity after navigating both commercial spectacle and intimate art. Perhaps this is what cinema ultimately exists for-to find rebirth in the fragile balance between love and loss.

Hamnet is an exceptional movie - its only weakness being that it tries unnecessarily too hard to extract a tear at every turn, drawing on the full armamentarium of tools available to a crafty storyteller like Chloe Zhao. Ultimately, the movie takes you on a journey through life of a typically family. William meets Agnes, Agnes gets pregnant, they get married, they face difficulties in their lives and work, they have twins, they are protective of their children and premonitory about losing a child too. William has to spend significant time in London for work. They lose a child to pestilence. They process grief in their own way.

This movie has all the necessary ingredients to cater to a wide range of audiences and their respective beliefs about reconciling that kind of grief: ghosts, afterlife, mystical forest, abyss, dark holes, underworld (yes, Orpheus' story is woven into the story too), sky burial, perhaps a dream, too. Stillbirth that was not, connection between twins, mysterious connection with nature - a buffet of transcendent beliefs. There are twists too, not unlike those in The Six Sense or The Others. All leading to a catharsis that may have been more profound, if one were not already in tears throughout the whole movie. But, it was therapeutic and liberating, nevertheless. Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and Jacobi Jupe contribute masterfully to every single emotional exploitation in this well-crafted deconstruction of grief and Hamlet.

My wife and I watched the premiere at TIFF, with the Roy Thomson Hall always being an unmatchable, immersive venue to watch a movie, particularly one with a score like Hamnet's, supporting and amplifying the tension-building moments with Max Richter's intense music. As I have already pointed to Chloe Zhao not missing a single opportunity to draw on whatever values the audience may already have, here is the use of "On the Nature of Daylight" track (amplifying so intensely the preordained loss of a child to rare disease in Arrival). On the one hand, it was incredible to watch Chloe Zhao and Emily Watson's reactions to the movie, as it unfolded, just across the aisle from us. On the other hand, it was impossible to contain the emotional rollercoaster this movie has trapped us in - less than a year ago (on a trip through Denmark, of all places, where Hamlet is set), our three year old son caught severe pneumonia, deteriorated in the middle of the night from what appeared like a bad cold into a near comatose condition. Despite getting him to one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world, over the next week, the infection got worse and we endured for days holding and watching his near-lifeless septicemic body, not knowing whether he will wake up the same and whether he will wake up at all. This was a traumatic experience in a foreign country that left its scars. Watching Hamnet made us relive all of this in a span of two hours - that immeasurable, unimaginable, irreversible loss of a child full of unadulterated joy, dreams, aspirations, potential. I last felt this way when I watched Manchster by the Sea, but that was before I would come to experience my own child. Hamnet is portrayed in the movie to die from what appears as pneumonic plague - rare, but most rapidly progressing - in agony - it is devastating. Yet, we had a happy ending of sorts - our child survived. But it was crashing to watch the family on screen process this grief in their own way. It was beautiful to see them endure. We are drawn to tragedy in a paradoxical manner. Chloe Zhao knows and fully embraces that throughout her work, but also by preparing the audience for the experience (yes - there was a brief breathing exercise and meditation) and providing some closure in her commentary after - we live, we experience loss and grief, most of us find what to continue living for (to be or not to be), and we die, inevitably. I can only speculate, but she appears to have gone for absolute certainty to reach into the very soul of every person in the audience and touch them and unite them with strangers around the room with her masterful storytelling. There is much, much more to be said about this movie than I have. It is a must see and will surely collect many awards for its creators, but, most importantly, will solidify its place in art and history as a masterpiece.

Paul Mescal gives a breathtaking performance in Hamnet. His acting is powerful, emotional, and so natural that every moment feels real. The film itself is beautifully directed, visually stunning, and full of heart. It's a deeply moving story that stays with you long after watching. A masterpiece - one of the best films of the year!

Hamnet is my favorite movie of the year. What a beautiful script. This movie is a tearjerker. It's the most emotional I've been watching a movie in years. The performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are some of the best performances this decade. It also includes some of the best child acting I've ever seen. A film about love and loss that hits all the right notes perfectly. It even manages to have some really funny moments as well. The cinematography is beautiful, the editing is smooth, and the score is phenomenal. Chloe Zhao knocked it out of the park directing. It's definitely her best movie. No notes. 10/10.

William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, though there's some disagreement about whether he actually wrote the materials attributed to him. Even sketchier than this are some of the details about his personal life, aspects of his character that have been the subject of much conjecture, especially where they may have influenced his literary undertakings. And an examination of that nexus is where this latest offering from writer-director Chloé Zhao makes its appearance on the stage (or, in this case, the screen). Based on the best-selling speculative novel Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (who co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao), the film presents a fictional take on how the Bard's most noteworthy work, the quintessential theatrical tragedy, Hamlet, came into being. Essentially, the narrative maintains that the stage play (which, in Shakespeare's time, used the names "Hamlet" and "Hamnet" interchangeably) came about as a grief/coping response after the author (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley), lost their young son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe), to "the pestilence" (assumed to be bubonic plague). It's presumed that the tragic but heroic Hamlet is a fictional homage to Shakespeare's courageous, honorable but ill-fated real life progeny (though, admittedly, it's something of a stretch to understand what connection an 11-year-old boy from rural England might have to a prince of the Danish royal family). Bringing the play to life often led to marital discord between Will and Agnes, given that he was working on the production in London while she maintained the family household in Stratford-on-Avon. And, all the while, the couple struggled to come to terms with their feelings of loss, something that Shakespeare hoped to resolve by creating this latest work. As noble as this sentiment might be (and as truly effectively as it's addressed in the picture's closing 15 minutes), the overall execution otherwise leaves much to be desired. To its credit, "Hamnet" features superb performances (particularly by Buckley and Noah Jupe as Hamlet, though Mescal comes across as a bit hammy at times), along with a fine score, stunning visuals and an excellent period piece production design. But, even with all these assets in its favor, this release is sorely in need of editing and a better script, one with fewer repetitious and incongruent elements (most notably the clumsy integration of original Shakespearean on-stage dialog with contemporary off-stage exchanges). These shortcomings, regrettably, make for an often-dull tale, one that prompted a number of viewers at the screening I attended to start nodding off - literally. What's more, the screenplay would appear to assume that most audience members have an intimate familiarity with both the minutiae of the play and the details of Shakespeare's biography, inferences that ask an awful lot of viewers upon entering the theater. Indeed, when all is said and done, "Hamnet" truly is a major disappointment, an unapologetic example of Oscar bait, a picture that holds itself in bloated esteem simply because of its lofty attributes and subject matter. But that kind of unrepentant cinematic preening has grown tiresome over time, even though it's a formula that this filmmaker never shies away from employing in her productions - and this offering, unfortunately, is once again no exception.

None of the above. There is plenty of 'drama' AND Trauma both without any coherent narrative. I must say I am stunned by eight stars this movie is getting so far. My impression is that producers vet the director and the talent without seeing or knowing that a compelling story is there to be offered. Come on ; Jessie Buckley , Paul Mescal and Emily Watson in the cast , all genuine 'heavyweight' actors and I have seen all three deliver performances that blew me away . There is nothing profound in this film and IMO it limps along for ninety minutes without being truly engaging despite lots of (pointless) drama and where it goes from there I do not know because I did not watch it to its conclusion. My conclusion : ' Producers' vet the actors and the director without seeing to having an engaging story with which to make a movie. I can dislike a movie and still understand how it might be appealing to other people, I just cannot see or understand how any one could like or enjoy this movie but what do I know ? It has garnered eight stars on this platform which is generally pretty reliable with thousand or more ratings.

I had high hopes, given the buzz, and the cast. But.... OMG, i have rarely sat through such ludicrous over the top directing and performances, and if i was not with friends, I would have walked out. The characters are impersonal and there is ZERO chemistry between the leads. She is narcissistic and unreasonable ("you must go to London!" "why were you in London?!?!") he is spineless and a bit weird. There's sections that serve no function (the falcon...why?!), and the director tries SO HARD to make you cry it's literally ridiculous. Terrible terrible terrible. The DP is the only saving grace, but I didn't go to the theater to look at tableaus. The emperor has no clothes.

Fictional stories about the life of William Shakespeare have been created for many decades, if not centuries. None other than George Bernard Shaw wrote a short play called "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets." I remember seeing William Gibson's play, A CRY OF PLAYERS, in the late 1960s with Anne Bancroft and Frank Langella as "Will" and "Anne." I read Anthony Burgess's novel, NOTHING LIKE THE SUN, about Shakespeare's alleged affair with the "dark lady of the sonnets" (who was an African in his version) a couple of years later. At the end of the 20th Century came Robert Nye's novel, THE LATE MR. SHAKESPEARE, about a homosexual actor in Shakespeare's troupe who played women's roles. In 1998 came Tom Stoppard's clever screenplay for the Oscar-winning film, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. I'm sure that there have been many others. The latest entry into the field is HAMNET, a best-selling novel (I have not read it) about the death of Shakespeare's young son, which has now been made into a movie. It is the weakest of the bunch.

I was expecting a great deal from this movie. It had a lot of positive hype: good reviews, film festival awards, fan buzz on the Internet. When I saw it yesterday, I was VERY disappointed. I found it to be a lot of cliches strung together in a rather lackluster way. I was surprised when I saw the credits that both Stephen Spielberg and Sam Mendes were the producers. If only one of them had actually directed it! The actual director, Chloe Zhao, has chosen to give every scene equal weight. There are no moments of heightened tension. It is all played at the same relentless pace. It is all flattened out into a uniform terrain. There is a lot attention paid to details. We get all the expected discomforts and gross visuals of childbearing and the deaths of close family members. It's all "this happens and then this happens" with no real cause-and-effect. The actors give it their best. I was unfamiliar with Jessie Buckley, who plays "Anne" nee "Agnes." She seems to have gone to the same acting school as Jessica Chastain, where they teach them to demonstrate what they're feeling. It grieves me to say that I felt sorry for that fine actor Paul Mescal. Any through-line for the character, he had to create for himself. It is especially grievous when it shows him playing the Ghost in HAMLET, which shows the Ghost's scenes with no context, just strung together. I'm sure that audiences unfamiliar with HAMLET were mystified or (more likely) bored. It doesn't help that the actor portraying Hamlet is just dreadful. I was very glad when this movie was over.

I love nothing more than a good movie cry. I was excited all day to go see this movie and have a good movie cry. Alas my eyes have never been dryer. Overwrought and self important to the point of self-parody. At some hyper-dramatic moments I did hear some laughter in the theater, so I wasn't alone, but my wife sobbed her eyes out pretty much beginning to end, so maybe I went in with too much expectation. Also I am a rabid fan of Chloe Zhao and could feel little of her extraordinarily unique voice in this movie - she seems to have been subsumed into the Spielberg/Mendes brainwave. Kudos all around to the craft -- design, music, wardrobe, lighting.

Hamnet is my favourite film of the year so far in almost every aspect of filmmaking.

The writing is absolutely perfect. The characters are layered, lovable, relatable and they feel like reel human beings. When things get revealed about them, it's shown, not said and it's also subtle, basically they don't push it in your face, but if you look, you'll definitely see. The dialogues fit the medieval (I know it's set in early modern aged) environment and still feel natural, which is a combination I find to be very rare. The story is an emotional roller coaster. That's probably the main reason this is my favourite of 2025 so far above Sinners and One Battle After Another.

The directing is great, it's amazing how the tone of this film isn't messed up despite the range of emotions this film wants the audience to experience. The cinematography is absolutely incredible. The cameras used here are not as exclusive as the ones used in the previously mentioned films, but boy is it a visual feast. I don't know how long it's been since I've seen such long takes and to achieve the long takes the camera movement and angles have to be perfect. The lighting is mostly natural or part of the scene, which I love. The editing is great, I would naturally think a movie like this would bore me, but this didn't drag at all. The production design and the visual effects create a perfectly believable medieval environment. The casting perfectly balances fame and talent, while everyone fits their role too. The acting performances carry the movie to Best Picture level. And not just the leads, everyone and I have to note that the long takes enhance the already amazing achievements.

Hamnet would be my vote for Best Picture so far if I was a member of the Academy.

What a beautiful movie from Chloé Zhao. The film follows the life of a regular family in a past era, focusing on their relationships and how they deal with life's challenges. It's about love, loss, and family bonds, but it doesn't hit you over the head with drama. Things unfold slowly and quietly - small gestures, looks, and silences speak just as much as words. The English countryside almost feels alive, quietly watching over the family, and the story shows that human emotions - grief, care, hope - are timeless, even across centuries.

It's admirable that Chloé Zhao had the courage and insight to write and direct this almost Shakespearian story. William and Agnes bring twin children into the world, and the loss of one puts them in an incredibly tragic situation. Yet they have to find a way to keep going - as much as humans can - despite the pain.

Hamnet captures both darkness and grace in one of the most unapologetically raw and profoundly moving films I've seen this year. It features career-best performances from both Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, and it stands as Chloé Zhao's most accomplished work.

For me, it was a deeply emotional experience. The film doesn't scream its drama; it hints at it through tiny gestures, lingering looks, quiet moments, and family intimacy. You feel the characters' sorrow, hope, and concern - almost like you're living those moments alongside them. It's not an explosive movie; it moves you subtly and persistently, making you empathize with their loss and their struggle to carry on.

What do You see?

No words can fully describe the immense talent of Chloé Zhao.

Jessie Buckley Is an Absolute force of Nature,Her perfomance Amazing and Heartbreaking gut punch.

The screenplay,cinematography, and the music make for an incredible film about grief and acceptance.

The last 20 minutes are faithful to the book and so powerful.

Keep your Heart Open.

This movie is about remembrance, dedication, love.

I came in knowing almost nothing and only fully realized this was about Shakespeare near the very end of the movie. In a sense, I wish I knew more about Shakespeare's history and the story of hamlet. However, I feel coming in with nothing actually added more to the film and its emotion; not fully understanding what was happening till the very end made it so much stronger going into that last march. To be honest I wasn't fully convinced with the first half of the film, but the last part brought it all back making everything make sense again.

The introduction of the theater is crucial to prepare the audience for the scene that's about to unfold. The camera and angles from the beginning of the theater scene builds the suspense: the feeling of who Will has become, and the meaning of this play combined with the tension between them two.

The acting is also incredible with paul and jacobi's performances truly making the movie - raw, authentic, and full of emotion. Particularly Paul's "again" scene. It might be worth an award.

The costume design is well thought out and the blonde hair paint and blue costume really stands out. The attention to detail with the ghost's white clay...

The final scene of the crowd reaching out and Hamnet turning away was the most heart wrenching and beautiful of the film and did bring me to tears.

This is a story of the life of William Shakespeare and his family in the Stratford environs, based on a few known facts. The time period is from Shakespeare meeting his wife, to the opening of Hamlet in London. A lot of time is spent on the drama of home life, including that with some of the in-laws. Not being much use locally other than as a Latin tutor, Shakepeare leaves for London. The desire for his family to join him is put off with various excuses, until a successful Shakespeare buys his marital family the biggest house in town.

Being away much on business, with occasional visits home, Shakespeare misses the birth, death, and funeral of his only son Hamnet (a.k.a. Hamlet). Instead, he uses Hamnet's name for the title and lead character in his tragic play, as ghosts of father and son abound.

The mostly rural scenery has a washed-out coloring, seeming to indicate a historical story (similar to Nuremberg), accentuated by dim or available-light-only photography.

Because the story is so much concentrated in the family life in the Stratford area, it is fitting that the credits list his wife first, not Shakespeare. Shakespeare may have played sword-fighting with his son, inspiring the closing scene of Hamlet. There are quotes from Shakespearean plays, as the (screen)writer may be stretching to connect Shakespeare's plays with his family. His wife, being a witch and medicine woman, may have inspired the witches of Macbeth.

The problem, I find, is that if you are not a fan of Shakespeare, and do not know his work reasonably well, you lose a significant part of the plot. For films currently playing, I have recommended Rental Family for those interested in Japanese culture, and Left Hand Girl for those interested in Taipei life. However, does anyone care about life in rural 16th century England, even if there was a major historical figure in it? This I why I can only give this film a rating of 7, as it is not for everyone.

Hamnet is a film that feels almost unbearably intimate, as if we've been granted access to a private grief that was never meant for our eyes. The lead actors deliver performances so raw and tremulous they feel lived-in rather than acted, turning every glance and hesitation into something quietly devastating. Each scene unfolds with the fragility of a memory you're afraid to touch and so close to melodrama and melancholy that it threatens to tip over, yet always pulls back into something truer. The film's restraint becomes its greatest power, allowing quiet ache to bloom where spectacle could have easily taken over.

By its final act, Hamnet reveals why this story had to be told at all. Everything, the lingering looks, the muted sorrow, the tension between love and loss, suddenly locks into place with heartbreaking clarity. If you know Shakespeare even a little, the film reshapes him entirely, reframing pieces of his legacy you didn't know were fractured. It is deeply moving in a way that feels personal and unguarded, the kind of emotional honesty that reaches in and gently breaks something open inside you. You will cry. Not because the film demands it, but because it earns it. It's slowly, intimately, profoundly.

Rating - 8.0: Overall, a profound movie on loss and grief, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal deliver powerful performances to show how a personal tragedy led to Shakespeare writing one of his most memorable works, culminating in a phenomenal and gut-wrenching climax; I wanted to love this movie more, but unfortunately, this movie is held back from being great by its poor plot structure and incredibly dry moments at times, as it genuinely feels like an entire 30-minute third act was cut from this movie.

Direction - Good: The direction on a macroscale is a little too artsy and dry, while they do a very good job showing how beautiful this Shakespearean world is, the cinematography and editing were a little too dry for me; The direction on a microscale is great, as you really can see the relationships between the characters, helping emphasize the grief and trauma they feel when the conflict arises; There are many moments in this direction that are truly beautiful and powerful to watch, like some of the monologues in the later half of the movie and the entire ending, but these moments feel washed out from the dry and boring moments that feel dragged on; Storytelling is a huge issue for this movie because it cannot tell the story properly because the plot structure is imbalanced; They build tension incredibly well in the second half because of how emotionally invested you are in this conflict and how these characters are dealing with it

Story - Pretty Bad: Even though the concept is a really interesting idea, that Shakespeare's son Hamnet's death inspired him to write Hamlet, this concept is poorly told because of its bad plot structure; The plot structure is the biggest issue for this movie because the first half of the movie is entirely exposition, and the conflict is introduced past the halfway point, leaving less than an hour to actually address the conflict of the story; It almost feels like an entire act has been cut from this movie, as there are maybe one or two scenes between the conflict introduction and the climax, leaving no room for the actual concept for this movie; The character writing is great, as they really explore the grief and trauma these characters experience with the loss of a loved one, and how they influence their lives moving forward

Screenplay - Very Good: The dialogue is very Shakespearean and incredibly profound; the symbolism is rich as it deals with the trauma and grief of losing a child, with the performances feeling heavy and incredibly authentic as you empathize with what they are going through; the foreshadowing is strong as the loss in the movie helps inspire an architect, Hamlet, though you kind of already know what this movie is about if you read the given synopsis

Acting - Very Good: Jessie Buckley - Great (A truly magnetic performance that captures both the strength and vulnerability of Agnes; She shows the complexity of a mother grieving the loss of her child while also trying to navigate her own identity, with her husband not being there for her time in need; has great chemistry with Paul Mescal), Paul Mescal - Great (A truly powerful performance that feels very authentic to Shakespeare as he shows how the grief of his son Hamnet leads him to create his most iconic work, Hamlet; has great chemistry with Jessie Buckley), Rest of the cast - Good (The supporting cast is strong, with each actor bringing depth to their roles and enhancing the overall emotional impact of the story, especially the children in the film who have to navigate this tragedy; everyone in this movie feels authentic to the Shakespearean time period)

Score - Very Good: The score is very beautiful and helps set the tone of the movie; the problem is it is used sparingly because Zhao uses a lot of silence throughout the movie to let the dialogue and performances set the tone itself; even though it does make the movie feel dry at times

Soundtrack - Very Good: Even though "On the Nature of Daylight" is used perfectly in this movie, Max Richter needs to let this song go

Cinematography - Decent: A real spectrum of shots exists, as there are many shots and sequences in this movie that are truly beautiful to watch, yet there are many shots that just feel unnecessarily artsy and dry

Editing - Pretty Bad: The biggest issue for this movie is because many of the stitches and transitions just feel too basic and dry

Sound - Pretty Good: Helps show the beauty in the scenes; The lack of sound in some scenes does help emphasize the emotions of the characters, but also makes the movie feel dry at times

Production Design - Great: Truly emulates this Shakespearean time period with its authentic sets and locations

Costumes - Great: Truly emulates this Shakespearean time period with its authentic wardrobes

Pacing - Pacing is a complete mess as the first half of this movie is incredibly slow because it feels like exposition, and the entire second half feels incredibly rushed because they basically have to tell the story in under an hour; This movie feels like a whole thirty-minute third act was cut as there is barely any rising action; If they wanted to keep this runtime, which they should not, they should have cut the exposition in half and transferred it to scenes after the conflict introduction to help balance the movie, but they should have honestly just increased the runtime because this movie just feels too short

Climax - Climax is phenomenal and gut-wrenching as it is executed perfectly as you empathize with Agnes and Will as they bring to life Hamnet through Hamlet, with the final sequence being incredibly emotional

Tone - Tone is very much a Shakespearean tragedy

Final Notes - Saw premiere at Austin Film Festival; It is genuinely crazy when this movie decides when it wants to be fantastic and why it wants to be dry and boring.

The movie lacked the utter magic of the book, which I loved. I'm so disappointed. I fully expected to weep, as I did when I read the book. I shed a tear or two, but I thought the movie lacked the sense of grief that came across so powerfully in the novel. It also flattened all the secondary characters and made Agnes' life look not that bad.

I was really looking forward to this movie. Couldn't wait. I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a movie in my life.

My wife fell asleep.

I didn't expect history but it was so far off Shakespeare's life. The performances were good and I always like seeing Emily Watson, but the story was very slow. I never felt a connection to the characters. I do not recommend.

Hamlet is a very old story coming from the Norse legends of Omlodhi. The original story is almost exactly the same with a few changes the Shakespeare made for his time. It was not based on this. It is based on that story. If you don't believe me, search it. Or better yet read Hamlet's Mill. It outlines the history perfectly. Not this garbage of a movie.

One of the most boring movies I've watched in the last few years. The story goes on so slow without any major events happening and everything is repetitive and predictable. The characters are not fully developed at all and that makes you not really feel their emotions and have sympathy for them at all.

So, I finally watched the film Hamnet. It's directed by Chloé Zhao, who made Nomadland and won an Oscar, and produced by big names like Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes. I've been seeing the trailers for about two months whenever I went to my favorite movie theater. And today, I finally watched it.

It really feels like Hollywood has returned to its traditional roots. This is already the second masterpiece after Train Dreams. I really liked this film. I'll try to keep it spoiler-free.

The film is amazing - it captures the atmosphere of the late 16th century. We see young Shakespeare teaching Latin in a village not far from London. He falls in love with his future wife - a hardworking country woman who can shovel manure and milk a cow. Shakespeare himself is shown as a guy who isn't really good with physical labor. And there is a strong scene (a small spoiler) showing how he struggles with manual work, which was extremely important for people at that time.

The nature is shown beautifully - the rustling trees, the wind, the damp air. All of it is delivered through the camera. And of course, life is a tragedy. Now it's clear that great art, music, paintings or cinema are born only through the contrast of love and suffering. Either great, powerful love, or loss and grief. Only then masterpieces appear.

And I'll add this - the film is very easy to watch. You don't feel like you're sitting through a history lecture or being overloaded with heavy dialogue. Everything feels human. Simple life, simple relationships, no pretentiousness. Nothing looks fake or polished. It's real, like you're actually there. I liked that there's none of that modern Hollywood noise. Everyone acts calmly, without shouting or trying to impress with special effects. Just the story of a family, a small village, ordinary people with their joys and sorrows. And the film is warm, despite the tragedy. You leave the theater not drained, but with the feeling that you watched something genuine. Something that stays in your head all day.

I really liked this film, a lot. I want to point out, without spoilers, the childbirth scene - in my opinion, it's one of the best. Not in the whole history of cinema, but for films about the 16th century for sure. It's incredibly realistic and emotional.

And Jessie Buckley - she was unbelievable. She put all the pain, all the emotions, all the suffering into her role. It really feels like she's not from this world. I'll be rooting for this film and for her at the Oscars.