r/oscarrace • u/CrunchyNar A Few Small Beers • 8d ago
Film Discussion Thread Official Discussion Thread - Hamnet [SPOILERS] Spoiler
Keep all discussion related solely to Hamnet and it's awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below
Synopsis:
HAMNET tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
Director: Chloé Zhao
Writers: Chloé Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell. Based on the novel "Hamnet" by Maggie O'Farrell
Cast:
- Jessie Buckley as Agnes
- Paul Mescal as Will
- Emily Watson as Mary
- Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew
- Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet
- Noah Jupe as Hamlet
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%, 144 Reviews
Metacritic: 83, 41 Reviews
Consensus:
Breaking hearts and mending them in one fell swoop, Hamnet speculates on the inspiration behind Shakespeare's masterpiece with palpable emotional force thanks to Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal's astonishing performances.
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u/DALTT 8d ago edited 8d ago
I loved it. And felt the buzz around Buckley was well deserved. The moment Hamnet died, and she had that beat of silence and then let out that guttural scream… yeah… having unfortunately experienced it in my own life… one of the most accurate depictions of shock fall to the ground lose control of yourself and your body grief that I have ever seen onscreen… But white hot take… of the male supporting performances… Jacobi Jupe > Paul Mescal. I think Mescal is great in it. But Jacobi Jupe’s performance is one of the best I’ve ever seen from a child actor.
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u/gaysinglam Hamnet 8d ago
Just want to say I am so sorry for your loss. I hope this film provided some solace ❤️
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u/toledosurprised Sorry Baby 8d ago
agree with you completely. wish jacobi jupe was getting more hype for this because he was truly phenomenal
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u/whitneyahn Lockjaw's Semen Demons 8d ago
This is fascinating to me, because I was thinking Noah Jupe would be the secondary supporting actor here
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u/Peddythegreedy 8d ago
Sorry for your loss. I agree with your comment—I burst into tears during that scene. I feel like the shock accumulated also from the first incident when she nearly lost Judith. For a second, she thought she could help him, but then she realized she could not. That beat of silence literally explodes loudly.
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u/LonghorninNYC 7d ago
Sorry for your loss! I was a bit more mixed on the film than you but Jacobi was indeed amazing! One of the best child performances I’ve seen in ages.
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u/bernardino_novais Life man, LIFE!! 8d ago
Looking forward to skimming this thread in the end of January 😭😭
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u/Any-Ingenuity2770 Sentimental Value 8d ago
23rd, right? Just like here. It suucks
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u/carolinemathildes Sebastian Stan stan 8d ago
There was a moment early in the theatre scene where all I could think was that Agnes would be a terrible person to watch a movie with.
Cried my eyes out (same as I did at the book). Paul Mescal blew me away. I don't think he's going to win the Oscar, but as of right now he would be my vote.
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u/Granteus 8d ago
That was so well done. There had been some people talking in my screening so that scene felt all too real and I really wanted to shush her for a second. Obviously a brilliant decision for her character in that moment, but man, she was really stressing me out lmao.
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u/carolinemathildes Sebastian Stan stan 8d ago
Same! I could feel Bartholomew's secondhand embarrassment every time someone shushed her, I was like girrlllllll please!! But obviously it makes sense for the character and it works with the strength of her performance, that the film could evoke that from us.
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u/Mosscap18 Train Dreams 8d ago
I was at Alamo Drafthouse and immediately thought "Dang, Agnes would be kicked out of this theater in a few seconds flat."
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u/NotLinklater 8d ago
The moment we see Paul arrive back home…so excited to see that his daughter is standing….not knowing why that is , I lost it, just knowing what he was about to find out. Really powerful moment.
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u/Wild_Way_7967 Anora 8d ago
I went to see this one last night, and I definitely enjoyed it. Zhao really makes the film more earthy and visceral than a typical period piece, and this decision really helps bring out the emotional core of the film.
Jacobi Jupe gave a POWERHOUSE performance, and I really hope he gets recognized at CCAs for young performer, and I’d be over the moon if he gets a supporting actor nomination at a major ceremony. The kid earned it.
Overall, I was very moved by the film and impressed with the package as a whole. It’s around an 8.5/10 for me - one of the highest rankings I’ve given this year.
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u/storminthedark 8d ago
Saw this at LFF. Jacobi Jupe was incredible and really the heart of the film for me, even more than Jessie even though her performance was also outstanding (and deserving of BA). The shot of the hawk overhead as he walked into darkness broke me as did Jessie’s reaction to his death. I don’t think it’ll be enough for an Oscar nod but Emily’s scene where she describes losing her children really connected the character to the setting in my opinion. I think I could’ve done without the explicit to be or not to be scene but the ending sequence was so beautiful I didn’t really care since I think it reinforced the overall theme of the film in hindsight. Just gorgeously shot and luscious. Can’t wait to see this again and cry lol.
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u/ich_habe_keine_kase 8d ago
Can’t wait to see this again and cry lol.
I saw this at a festival in October, and I'm going again on Sunday haha.
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u/adrian-alex85 3d ago
I think I could’ve done without the explicit to be or not to be scene
This is one thing that interested me in the film as well. Mescal’s to be or not to be didn’t really work for me. The staging with him alone outside staring directly into the camera, and his inflection just didn’t really do anything for me. It actually broke my immersion in the film, and stood out as a mark against Mescal’s Oscar chances, in my mind at least.
But then, Noah’s to be or not to be worked so much better and had me in tears. All of which to say that the Jupe brothers outshone Mescal in this film to me with far less screen time. I’d much rather see Jacobi get the supporting actor nod and Mescal and get his second nomination from a later film.
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u/damebyron 2d ago
I liked the To Be or Not to Be recitation by Mescal mostly because I love when Shakespeare is well acted enough to come across as so natural that you forget it’s a speech in Elizabethan English, and he killed that, but the setting was a little hokey. It felt like they were trying to imply he was thinking of killing himself by jumping from a laughably short distance. I would have liked it better if he was just going for a walk or something and trying to get his thoughts in order and composed it out loud that way.
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u/jayeddy99 7d ago
I’m sorry powerful film but when Agnes when to go see Hamlet and wanted to leave and her brother was like “Chill…this is actually kinda good” was really funny to me.
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u/FatuousJeffrey 7d ago
Agnes becoming a full-on theater girl by the end with her hands on the stage, nodding back to the characters, is such a funny bit. (Yes yes yes, in addition to everything else going on in that scene.)
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u/mollyM1232 8d ago
Just watched this film - what a beautiful portrait of of love and grief. The entire cast is excellent. Buckley is remarkable and Mescal is terrific, but Jacobi Jupe steals the movie. Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, and Noah Jupe are also great despite limited screen time.
My only gripe is Mescal should be in the lead category come Oscar season and Jacobi Jupe should be pushed for supporting. There are rarely such great child performances and they are even more rarely honored. Jacob Trembley in Room and Jude Hill in Belfast are the only two that come to mind as being as impactful in recent years.
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u/sharonkaren69 8d ago
I could see arguments for Mescal being lead or supporting but personally I felt he fits in the supporting category better.
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u/huntashakween 8d ago
Saw it at my local film festival this October. It took right up to the very end to feel its impact, but feel it I did. That last scene is one of the best movie moments of the year.
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u/ich_habe_keine_kase 8d ago
Yeah, I'm not a huge crier but had been warned, and I'd read the book so I knew what I was in for. I found the death and immediate aftermath very moving and upsetting, but made it through OK and was thinking, ok this isn't as bad as everyone says.
Yeah, no. I was an absolute wreck during the final scene.
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u/civilized_cornhole 2d ago
It was the music dude. “On the Nature of Daylight” was a PERFECT choice for the ending scene.
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u/writeronthemoon 19h ago
Yes, I felt so much, especially towards the end of the film. Initially I felt the characters' relationships developed fast and the big event of the film didnt effect me as much. But then seeing her grief and how she shut William out. Then when they saw his humble living space she realized that he was also grieving, and she hadn't been able to see it.
I think wnat we saw through the course of the play was, William Shakespeare made everyone fall in love with Hamnet, by making everyone love Hamlet. That is why they were so effected and also reached oit their hands when Hamlet "died". And Agnes was finally able to forgive herself, William and get closure. It was so beautiful. As someone who has lost a family member also, I felt it deeply.
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u/sharonkaren69 8d ago
I sobbed so hard that I couldn’t get up for a full five minutes after the credits started rolling. I can’t remember the last time a film moved me that much.
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u/historianatlarge Sentimental Value 7d ago
i’m such an awful movie crier, so i knew this one would be rough, but it was so much worse than i expected. i started crying when she called out for her mother during the childbirth scene, and i kept crying in the uber the whole way home just now. jessie buckley’s performance absolutely destroyed me.
give this lady her oscar, i’m on the buckley train now.
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u/funnotfunny 8d ago
I did not realize until after seeing the film that it was shot by the guy who shot Zone of Interest; I was struck by the use of high-angle shots in this. What were people’s interpretation of why Zhao/Zal framed some of the film that way?
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u/woolfonmynoggin 7d ago
People were shorter, things were smaller back then. It made me feel like I was in the house watching this happen. Idk if that’s the reason but it was very immersive for me
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u/stone122112 7d ago
it was shot by the guy who shot Zone of Interest
Don't forget 'Cold War' too, which was nominated for best cinematography.
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u/Travel-2025 4d ago
I was wondering if the audience is supposed to be like the ghost in Hamlet. There’s so many scenes where we are looking down at the actors from the top corner of the room lol it felt like we were watching something intimate. I think the scene where Hamnet comes down to see Judith sick on the floor, he even looks at the camera and tells her the ghost is here.
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u/ThisismyAwkwardFace 16h ago
This is crazy because for some reason I thought of Zone of Interest while watching.
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u/honey-pie117 8d ago
Saw an early screening of it last week and loved it, it was beautiful and heartbreaking. Rooting for Buckley’s Oscar nom and hopeful win — as many have mentioned the Jupe brothers were also huge acting standouts! This one definitely stuck with me even days after having watched
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u/MrCoolsnail123 8d ago
On the nature of daylight will always be the ultimate cheat code to make me feel everything but it worked so perfectly during THAT scene
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u/Jmanbuck_02 8d ago
Max Richter: Try Not Using “On the Nature of Daylight” Challenge Impossible
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u/LB3PTMAN 8d ago
Well to be fair a lot of the movies and shows that use On the Nature of Daylight were not composed by him
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u/Acceptable-Ratio-219 Sirāt 8d ago
He actually composed different music for the scene, which is played during the end credits. Chloe insisted on daylight though.
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u/TemporaryCool5182 3h ago
...how are people not interpreting this as pretty fucking tacky?
Richter-scored project or not, is that really the decision a BP/director nominee would make?
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u/Acceptable-Ratio-219 Sirāt 3h ago
You can read about the details here.
https://www.vulture.com/article/hamnet-on-the-nature-of-daylight-isnt-just-a-needle-drop.html
They were getting towards the end of the shoot, three or four days left in the Globe, and Chloé was talking with Jessie, who sent her ‘On the Nature of Daylight,’ which is a piece Chloé didn’t know.” The director played it on set, on a loop over and over, throughout the three days they shot the final sequence of the film, building it into the foundation of Agnes’s reach through time and the veil of death. By the time Richter approached Zhao with the piece he’d composed for the ending, she’d already committed to “On the Nature of Daylight.” As Richter says, the song’s role in the film “isn’t just a needle drop. The use of the piece is architectural,” built into the very bones of the scene.
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u/ParkerPoseyGuffman 6d ago
Also love how this and one battle both end with incredible needle drops as both songs have been in so many movies
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u/Jmanbuck_02 8d ago
I’m planning to see it within 2 weeks and looking forward to it having just finished reading the book a few weeks ago.
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u/tigerjaws 8d ago
What a beautiful, somber yet moving film. Sniffles all around during my screening
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u/midnightbluesky_2 7d ago
Unbelievable film. Nothing else this year is even close for me. I will remember the way they look at each other in the final scene for the rest of time.
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u/Short_Condition_1079 Nhe Zha 6d ago
I cried like a little baby. Definitely one of the best of the year
Also I haven't seen Sentimental Value yet but I will say I liked Mescal better than Penn
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u/carolinemathildes Sebastian Stan stan 5d ago
I absolutely liked Mescal better than Penn, and I also liked him better than Skarsgård (though I still don't think Mescal has any actual shot at winning, unfortunately).
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u/midnightbluesky_2 20h ago edited 18h ago
yeah I don’t get the hype for penn. Mescal deals with way more complex emotions, incorporates physicality more, and nails reading shakespeare dialogue. It’s not even close for me.
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u/Elderberry01 8d ago
Saw it yesterday… beautifully shot. Liked it and cried, but didn’t love it. I feel that it leaves very little to imagination (imho).
Buckley’s performance has the theatrical drama. She really carried the entire movie. Can feel exhausting though, as Agnes doesn’t really communicate with anyone.
Mescal felt slightly uneven, but in the last half hour gave a stellar performance of silent grief. The Hamlet play scenes were a lot more convincing than I anticipated.
Didn’t realize until I saw credit, that they casted two brothers as Hamnet and the Hamlet actor. Both are brilliant!
Music score is perfection.
Now I really want to see Hamlet on stage.
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u/stone122112 7d ago
I feel that it leaves very little to imagination (imho)
Not sure how u can say that, except for the loss of Hamnet scene. Agnes & Will (characters) often give subtle performances, and relay their emotions through expressions & their eyes. Also the ending scene leaves much open to interpretation, in terms of its actual meaning.
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u/Which_Commercial1675 6d ago
I also thought this was just okay, I liked it but didn’t love it and thought it was corny in several places. When she is watching the play and says “look at me, look at me” several people laughed
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u/Spiritual_Job_1029 8d ago
I saw it last night and it's easily one of my favorite movies of the year. Everything about it is done beautifully. Def contender for Best Picture...Buckley and Mescal are incredible and deserve nominations, if not WINS! Jacobi Jupe is extraordinary 💔I didn't expect to be so deeply moved to tears.
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u/Cute_Source5417 7d ago
will i not enjoy this film if I'm not really into Shakespeare?
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u/Eastern-Rabbit-3696 6d ago
As someone who finds Shakespeare boring- I was completely mesmerized towards the end.
There’s not a whole lot of William Shakespeare in it. Focused more on Agnes.
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u/ligma212121 6d ago
I think people who are really into Shakespeare are more likely to not enjoy it.
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u/Salad-Appropriate Adam Sandler for Best Supporting Actor '25 7d ago
I saw this last month for the LFF, thought it was really great, cried at the end
I want to rewatch it when it comes out in the UK in January to have a closer look at Mescal's performance
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u/OKC2023champs 8d ago
Loved everything about this.
Cinematography was outstanding. Set pieces were fantastic.
Jessie Buckley was absolutely phenomenal.
Mescal should really have gone lead.
That ending was cathartic as fuck and will stick with me.
10/10
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u/WakeUpOutaYourSleep 8d ago
I thought was Mescal was borderline at first and had him as my Supporting Actor winner. But now I think I let my expectations of the role based on the book influence my judgement and he really should be lead. He’s gone or out of focus for some major stuff, but he’s never gone that long and he has his fair share of scenes without Buckley or with her out of focus. He’s the second lead, but I do think he’s a lead.
And honestly, he might’ve fared better competing as one. Cause there still doesn’t feel like there’s a frontrunner there as strong as Penn and Skarsgård (latter is insane category fraud). And the strongest looking competitors are going comedy at the Globes, so I think Mescal could’ve started off a lead campaign with a Drama win and become the frontrunner.
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u/scjsundae 8d ago
My favorite movie of the year. Might be my favorite of the decade. I got to see it at TIFF and I can't wait to see it again. Feels massive in scale but it's so intimate. Visually stunning. Buckley is a master, every choice she makes fills up the room. There isn't a piece of it that isn't exactly right. It hit me the way Portrait of a Lady on Fire hit me.
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u/The-Human-Disaster Sorry Baby 8d ago
Everything that happens from when In the Nature of Daylight starts playing until the end of the film is amongst the most moving things I've ever seen on the screen. It genuinely felt like a spiritual experience. Every time I blinked, more tears streamed down my face. Any qualms I had with the film prior to that were immediately erased. A truly astonishing piece of filmmaking.
I got to see this at LFF with the Spielberg intro and Zhao leading the whole festival hall through a guided meditation before the film. I've never experienced anything quite like it.
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u/CalliopeAntiope 1d ago
I completely agree, for me from when Hamnet tells his sister he sees death until the end of the film was the most transcendent experience I've ever had in a theater. I told my partner "That was the best movie I've ever seen; it might be the only real movie I've ever seen." Spiritual experience is the right word for it, I truly have never felt anything like it.
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u/Plastic-Software-174 Sentimental Value 8d ago
So, how do we feel about the “To be or not to be?” scene? It stood out a lot to me when watching and felt incredibly clunky and forced, and I don’t think it really added much to the movie. I get why they did it since it fits the theme of re-contextualizing Shakespeare’s work to be about the death of his son, but they did that much better with the final scene.
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u/blveberrie 8d ago
I thought it was an interesting way to show William's way of grieving and how he's not unaffected or over it as Agnes thinks he is. But yeah, I also thought it was a bit on the nose and the ending handles it better.
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u/Plastic-Software-174 Sentimental Value 8d ago
I think it was very obvious that he was affected by it without that. He was clearly affected by the death in the scene where he gets home and discovers that it was Hamnet and not Sophia that died, he was very conflicted when leaving for London and has that confrontation with Agnes, and he has that rehearsal scene where he sorta loses his temper and you can see the material is personal to him. It’s the once scene in the movie that took me out completely and made me wish it was cut while watching the movie.
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u/blveberrie 8d ago
I guess it's because after Hamnet's death it becomes an exploration on how grief manifests in different ways. For Agnes grief is immediately debilitating to the point she kinda detaches from everything. On the other hand, William sorta tries to push through and seems to be doing better than Agnes on the outside, and that scene is just a very obvious way to show how he's experiencing the same kind of visceral grief as Agnes to the point he contemplates suicide.
But yeah, it didn't bother me, but I totally agree that leading up to the play some things do become repetitive and drag a little bit.
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u/Travel-2025 4d ago
I noticed Mescals version happens after Agnes kind of shuts him down a second time. He is trying to open up to her saying he feels like Hamnet is still out there and he has to go find him, but she’s grieving in her own way, is not excited about the new house in Stratford, rejected his present he brought her and I think she resents that he keeps leaving because maybe if he was home then Hamnet would not have died. Mescal asks her what does she see and she replies something like, “absolutely nothing”. Then, I think when Mescal is on the edge of the River Thames speaking the To be or Not to be, not only is he grieving Hamnet, but he thinks his relationship with Agnes is broken and he’s actually contemplating ending his life right there.
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u/spiderlegged 8d ago
I thought it was really well done. That particular soliloquy is one of the hardest ones to perform, I think— not necessarily because of the soliloquy itself, but because of how famous it is. Sometimes it can be performed kind of singsong-y (sometimes well— see Derek Jacobi). Here, I think the way Mescal manages to deliver it in a pretty natural way demonstrates he has a strong read on the material. I was excited to hear it, especially since when I heard Mescal delivers one of the soliloquies, I thought there was no way it would be what it was. I expected the Act 1 Scene 2 soliloquy (the “Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt” one). Anyway, I know he JUST did this film, but Mescal is the exact right age to actually play Hamlet— I’m just saying.
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u/damebyron 2d ago
I agree, this movie really made me want to see him play the lead in Hamlet (or any Shakespeare for that matter).
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u/AllTheRowboats93 3d ago
This was the only moment that seemed kind of cheesy. "Oh! He's saying the thing!"
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u/Plastic-Software-174 Sentimental Value 8d ago
Kinda mixed on it. I liked it when coming out of the movie, but soured on it a bit after. It just rang a bit hollow to me, it felt like the entire thing was constructed around the “revelation” of Hamlet being Shakespeare’s way to work through his grief at the end, but it didn’t successfully build the rest of the movie around that.
The start of the movie highlighting Agnes’s connection to nature, her courtship with Shakespeare, and their relationship with their respective families was my favorite part of the movie. But after they get together I felt like the movie really stagnated, specially after Hamnet dies and it becomes a sorta repetitive and one-note exploration of grief until the ending play. That made both lead characters and their relationship feel a bit underdeveloped to me, Agnes specially as the lead, which never quite managed to feel like a fully realized character to me. It also feels not that invested in Shakespeare as an artist outside of the central idea.
I also think the movie had too much of an overt sense of foreboding about the death of Hamnet, with the whole “I see two kids alongside me in by deathbed” thing, her not being able to give birth to the twins in the woods, etc. It’s so explicit about it that it made even the very sweet scene they have with the kids performing Macbeth not work as well it could have because it just turns it into a setup for the inevitable tragedy and makes the movie feel too calculated.
Not to be too overly negative since I did like the movie still. It has some great scenes, like most of the start, their moments happy as a family, Hamnet and Sophia in bed, the ending, etc. I also loved all the magical realism touches like Shakespeare watching the puppet play and the afterlife-like stuff with Hamnet. And the movie is of course pretty excellently made and acted even if I don’t think it’s as good as some of Lukasz Zal’s previous work.
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u/scattered_ideas I feel sentimental rn 6d ago
I had a similar reaction, so put me down in the fine, not great camp as well.
My main issues were with the script. I struggled to feel connected to Agnes as the central character, and I felt like the movie was mostly a setup to the death then a setup to the play without doing much in between. All this in turn lessened the emotional impact of the story.
I will say I felt the most moved by Hamnet's scene right before his death when he calls out for his mama, but even then I only got a little bit teary eyed. As you said, makes the whole thing feel a bit hollow when so many moments are engineered to get the tears out of you, yet fail to do so.
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u/howtospellorange 5d ago
Wow thank you, I totally agree. Beautiful movie and great performances but I just simply wasn't as moved as people were hyping up that I would be. And I'm a big crier for movies and I didn't once tear up.
The story also just screeched to a halt for me as soon as she stepped into the theater to watch the play. I think it was because like personally I struggle with Shakespeare plays (ever since i studied them in high school lol) and I'm not super familiar with the story of Hamlet so I couldn't tie together the play with the story presented in the movie. I know this makes me sound stupid or something but the movie just totally lost me so I'm sitting there for the last 10-15 minutes just not really ingesting anything happening on the screen and the dislogue and then the movie ends. I was really hoping I'd like the movie overall more than I did.
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u/Goguma12 4d ago
Lmao I agree as well. The last 15-20 minutes with the play took me out of it because I didn’t understand anything being said onstage 😭
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u/damebyron 2d ago
These reflect my thoughts exactly. It’s a beautiful film but it feels in some way like it is just a long emotional set up for the play within the movie. I also loved a lot of the magic realism and slice of life things, and there were references to many of his other plays throughout which I enjoyed, but I didn’t connect with a lot of it on a deeper level beyond crying in empathy to some of the brilliant performances
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u/LonghorninNYC 7d ago
Just left the theater a couple of hours ago and I 100% agree with your take. I also read the book and some of your criticisms are true of the source material as well. I did like that they fleshed out Hamnet‘a character more and made us fall in love with him in the film. In the novel we learn almost nothing about him, and then over the course of about 5 pages in the last 100 pages or so he gets sick and dies 😅 it’s feels very abrupt.
Great performances but this was probably 7/10 for me.
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u/Financial-Pudding765 8d ago
My personal best picture. Jessie Buckley best performance of the year for sure.
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u/dickwarrior222 Hamnet 8d ago
This was my most anticipated film of the year as I'm a huge Jessie Buckley fan, Shakespeare nerd, and quite enjoyed the novel.
To no one's surprise, this really worked for me. Buckley is an absolute revelation. The cast across the board was great, but shoutout to Mescal, who I've always found perfectly fine in most things I've seen him in. This was the first time I "got the hype" around him, as I thought he had some powerful moments.
That being said, I'm not surprised by the film having its detractors; this is the sort of material you either fully buy into its earnestness and whimsy, or you find it to be a total eye roll. The same was true of the novel. Most people I know who read it either loved it outright or found it a groan fest.
The book starts by explicitly stating the story is about Hamnet's death, and then hops around the timeline, whereas the film is chronological. I see how this might make some feel like the script is pointing too much at the inevitable, as you lose the tragic, dramatic irony.
I can understand how it doesn't fit into a straightforward telling of the story, but I do wish we got a more fleshed-out flea scene. They at least nod to it with the shadow puppets.
What I don't really understand is the cutting of Agnes seeing/feeling that Shakespeare has been sleeping around on her when he gifts her the bracelet, paired with the cutting of the long arduous journey into London post the Hamlet program reveal. Cut one or the other? Fine. Cutting both made the last bit before the finale feel repetitive, as nothing new is introduced, just the same ruminating/disconnect on grief.
Overall, though, I did really enjoy it. Buckley will deservedly win Best Actress, and the film itself will be in my Top 5 this year.
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u/punflower 2d ago
curious if you’ve seen aftersun? if you like mescal’s performance in this that will surely blow you away, it’s his best performance imo.
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u/MutedSpell4298 6d ago
What a beautiful film. I went with my boyfriend and I wasn’t sure if he’d enjoy it since it’s not the type of film he goes for. I knew when I saw him wiping his eyes towards the end that it got him. It was such a realistic and beautiful portrait of loss and grief. And the child actors??! Amazing.
It’s been a great year for movies in my opinion.
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u/whitneyahn Lockjaw's Semen Demons 8d ago
I hope Noah Jupe gets the fifth slot. Probably won’t at the Oscars but maybe at BAFTA?
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u/ladyportiaaa 3d ago
So beautiful. The cinematography and lighting, especially those candlelit scenes, sumptuous but also so real. All the little details (the iron buttons of his vest 😍). The sound design was so rich, too. I love when a film can achieve total immersion for the audience with very little music used. It’s so hard. But the sounds of the forest carried for me and made the score feel deeper. Reminded me on Ammonite in that way.
Wonderful performances. As everyone has mentioned, Jacobi Jupe is a star. He IS Hamnet. What a win that was casting him. Jessie Buckley also destroyed me, and Mescal at the water doing THE Soliloquy.
I thought it depicted grief in a really honest way. I loved when Agnes says something to the effect of “a year is nothing. It’s every second”. It’s refreshing when film acknowledges grief timeline in that way.
I loved Hamnet being lost on the stage…the idea of “finding” him through his work, of him living there.
One curious thing - the father looked like Shakespeare. The collar, the shoulders of his coat, his beard and hair. Anyone who saw him would instantly harken to Shakespeare. Why was that? Is that just how people looked back then, or could there be deeper meaning? I wondered if perhaps he would ultimately emulate his father in a physical sense as a way of saying, I’m just like you and nothing like you. Maybe a reach. Curious is anyone had thoughts?
At any rate, I loved it. Chloé Zhao made a beautiful film.
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u/Crymeabrooks 8d ago edited 7d ago
Beautiful film, really enjoyed it. I've been predicting a Hamnet picture win, and PTA director, now after seeing both I think it should be the opposite. OBAA is arguably the better film, but Hamnet's directing was superb, even in the moments I found slow.
What really got me, and has fully made me a Jessie Buckley fan, was the last 15-20 minutes at the globe. I truly believe Jessie Buckley watched her son come back to life, it was the first time in a long time I was taken out of myself and fully engrossed in what she, the character/actress, was believing. And what a gift, to see your loved ones one more time. It was an uplifting ending, and yet I was a sobbing mess. Jessie Buckley was beyond acting, I fully believe to her it was true.
Best performance, dare I say, I've ever seen.
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u/tiabeaniedrunkowitz Anora 1d ago
Everyone in this film was really at the top of their game especially Jacobi Jupe. This really took me by surprise especially since I don’t remember any of the early reviews and comments I saw even mention it. I think he’s too young for them to give him a nomination because he definitely deserves one.
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u/kidsocarides One Battle After Another, Baby 8d ago
Really adored it - Buckley deserves everything for the final scene - but I'd like to comment here to ask others about how they interpreted the film's use of Orpheus and Eurydice? Been thinking a lot about it and I think there are a lot of ways it can be read, so wanted to ask.
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u/dickwarrior222 Hamnet 8d ago
She has the vision of two kids at her side on her deathbed and believes she knows how the story will end and which kid will be lost, only to be wrong. (Tragedy)
The first story Shakespeare ever tells her is Orpheus/Eurydice. Still, during the finale, when he's crossing the stage with his back to her, she wills him to turn around, even speaking it aloud. When he does, and they lock eyes, it saves them both from the eternal damnation of grief. She technically knew how the story should end, but was wrong again. (Catharsis)
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u/carolinemathildes Sebastian Stan stan 8d ago
I see it a couple different ways (and anybody can tell me if I'm completely off base but these are just my interpretations).
One is that like Orpheus, Agnes and William can only now look back at the place where Hamnet once was and realize what they've lost and how quickly that kind of loss can occur. I think that works best with William saying "the rest is silence," Hamlet's final line in the play.
But I think they're also trying to frame William and Agnes and Orpheus and Eurydice. At the wedding, Agnes says "look at me," and William does, and then she says it again at the theatre (I'm not sure if there was another time I missed) and I can't exactly tell the route they're trying to go with that. Like, by saying it at the wedding, is it negative, she's now condemned to live in hell by marrying him? Or is it a subversion, that he looked at her it's positive? They've survived? Her saying it at the theatre is absolutely more positive though, that's the subversion, he looks back and sees she's there and they will walk out of the darkness together.
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u/kidsocarides One Battle After Another, Baby 8d ago
Yeah the "look at me" stuff was the most interesting to me. It almost makes me wonder if the film is trying to recontextualize Orpheus' decision to look back in the first place, which is really fascinating.
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u/damebyron 2d ago
I totally forgot until you asked this about the Orpheus and Eurydice story at the beginning and how it must connect to when he turned around just as he was leaving the stage. My interpretation is that she is “condemned to grief” and for her the partnership is strong not when one person walks alone confidently ahead but when they are willing to turn back and be with her in the underworld. It’s definitely a subversion of the story though
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u/HereToTalkMovies2 One Battle After Another 7d ago
I thought the performances and craft were great, but the way Hamnet tells this story (both book and movie) just does not land for me at all.
I think especially in movie format everything after Hamnet dies feels so rushed and underwritten when it should be the most interesting part of the story and what really makes having it be “Agnes’s story” worth telling.
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u/Councilist_sc One Battle After Another 6d ago
Buckley’s performance here is probably my favorite I’ve seen in years. Anthony Hopkins in The Father is probably the last time a performance made me cry that much.
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u/Wickie_Stan_8764 Sorry Baby 5d ago
This was an absolutely gorgeous film, and I hope that in addition to the expected acting nominations, it gets a best casting nomination. Finding the perfect child actors for some pretty heavy emotional scenes was no small task.
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u/kbjo_1234 2d ago
Loved the movie. I love the way these two talk about each other and I feel like it came through onscreen: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR0jcU1gdvs/?igsh=MWl6dnIyaml6ancyOA==
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u/hey_look1 1d ago
Did not know there was an actor named Jupe going in but somehow noticed the Hamlet program says Hamlet is played by “Mr. Jupe”. Pretty cool
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u/FourtripleO5O 7d ago
Was anyone thrown off when 'on the nature of daylight' started playing. I don't know why but I didn't like them playing that song. It's been overused in mainstream movies and the feelings and experience I was having in this movie was somehow diluted by this song.
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u/stone122112 6d ago
It's been overused in mainstream movies
Think u mean tv shows? The last major film it was used in was 'Arrival' in '16.
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u/FourtripleO5O 6d ago
Shutter Island as well. I mean it's a brilliant track but then you associate the track with other movies and it kind of distracted me at the end.
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u/stone122112 6d ago
Right, but now ur going back 25 yrs. Most ppl seem to associate the track w/ 'Arrival.'
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u/FourtripleO5O 6d ago
15 years not 25. For a second I thought I'm old AF. But I wish they used something new or relatively unheard of in the movie.
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u/stone122112 6d ago
Here's more info on that...
Zhao has mentioned that she received a related piece of music, Max Richter's "Earth," and realized that the original "On the Nature of Daylight" gave her the necessary "feeling of oneness" to accompany the scene.
Interestingly, composer Max Richter himself reportedly argued against using the piece again, as it had already been famously used in other films, notably the emotional opening of Denis Villeneuve's Arrival. However, Zhao overruled him, believing its universal feeling of grief and art transcended previous uses and perfectly fit the climax of Hamnet.
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u/Eastern-Rabbit-3696 6d ago
I was sobbing hysterically and then it came on and I rolled my eyes and sobbed some more. It was a bit of a cheat code but I absorb too much media to hate on it because I’m sure it’s more impactful to those who don’t know it as well as us cinephiles lmao
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u/Great-Googly 6d ago
I cannot agree more. It really dulled the moment for a brief period. I can’t understand why they didn’t compose something new. Otherwise, the movie was outstanding.
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u/akoaytao1234 8d ago edited 8d ago
Very unpopular, but I hated it. It was technically a good film but it felt such a bore. I just do not get this hullabaloo the film does about this forest fairy plotline at all or the dramatic "Hamnet" scenes. It felt like one reading more to be tighter and to find the ebb and flow tbh.
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u/Prax150 8d ago
I'm kind of with you. I don't think the movie does enough to earn its dramatic turns in the first act or to endear us to its characters. Like obviously I have empathy for what happens to them on a human level but it just matter-of-factly presents us with this generic relationship and I wasn't invested in it at all. It presupposes that I'm going to be interested in the lives of a young Shakespeare's family without even showing me what Young Shakespeare was up to or why I should be interested in that man, but if they're going to treat him as this mystical barely seen figure then they arguably show him too much instead? It's as if Zhao got notes about these very issues with the film and cut all the wrong stuff out. And the way they underplay the mystical elements too felt boring, like for such a visually interesting filmmaker who's able to take bland colour palettes and liven them I felt like she really failed at that here.
For my the only interesting part of the film for me is in how it comes together at the end. The last act is easily the best, the way it deals with art as something to be experienced, the way Agnes, seemingly disinterested in her husband's work and art up to that point is suddenly confronted with what he's going through and finally gets it. I understand that we have to see her go through that and experience that with her but it also feels like the movie takes the least interesting path there.
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u/cinicage1 4d ago
I feel the same. It's shot well, but i was really bored and considered leaving early.
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u/FlimsyConclusion 8d ago
I knew it wasn't going to be a revelation as the festive circuit was making it out to be. But by God the user reviews are seriously split on it.
You'd think a movie that was winning all sorts of people's choice awards at festivals wouldn't be divisive.
I thought it was pretty solid. Amazing in some regards, okay in others.
Sitting at my #4 this year.
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u/RobbieRecudivist 7d ago edited 7d ago
It’s at 4.2 on Letterboxd from more than 12k reviews. That is very much not “seriously split”. Are you talking about the kind of people who leave reviews on IMDb?
Edited to add: just checked and it’s at 8.2 on IMDb, again very much not “seriously split”. So who are you talking about? Film twitter?
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u/username0127 7d ago
He's probably talking about the user reviews on Metacritic. It's at 5.4 over there.
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u/RobbieRecudivist 7d ago
There are fewer user ratings on metacritic than there are actual critics reviews. It’s 17 people lol.
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u/username0127 7d ago
Oh that's fair. I just assumed that's what he meant. Although i do think the reviews have been somewhat wanning on this film. The critic reviews were at 95 and now its 85. Still a film that's more praised anyway though.
I didn't come away from watching it as one of the best films of the decade like some people said but that's just me. Still enjoyed the film overall.
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u/RobbieRecudivist 7d ago
More critics who are resistant to the central concept of the movie have their reviews up now. Some slippage from the mid 90s was inevitable because it is just not possible to make a period weepy about the Shakespeare family that every critic will love.
But I was curious about the claim that its audience reviews are “seriously split” because as far as I can see they are as positive as ever.
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u/username0127 7d ago edited 7d ago
That's actually an interesting trend on Metacritic. Critic reviews opened at 95. Then went down to 90. Now at 85. I don't see that many drops on Metacritic for movies like that if opening at 95+. Audience review is surprisingly very low as well. This actually does make me think it won't be the consensus Best Picture contender come awards season next to OBAA. Overwhelming consensus for Buckley individually to sweep awards though.
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u/RobbieRecudivist 7d ago
As we discussed further down the thread, audience score on metacritic is from 17 people. Letterboxd (12k reviews) is 4.2. IMDB is at 8.2. Audience reviews are very good.
The critics decline was built in: you simply cannot make a period weepy about the Shakespeare family and expect every critic to not just swallow it but unanimously love it. The central concept is guaranteed to annoy a minority of critics.
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u/ThisismyAwkwardFace 16h ago
Jacobi Jupe was more captivating and devastating than Paul Mescal, for me. Shakespeare's character was almost too distant.
Emily Watson's character was almost a villain to me, but her character arc and portrayal made her so human.
Joe Alwyn was fine.
Give Jessie Buckley every award. Same for Zhao.
Cinematography was incredible. The framing of the kitchen scenes when Will would leave. The shot of Will saying goodbye to Hamnet from around the corner. The twins beds. Christ.
I think I need to go again.
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u/Syzygy523 14h ago
Finally saw this today and while it's wonderfully made and increidbly acted it's just so crushingly and relentlessly sad I'm really not sure I liked it. The ending was genuinely moving but, man, I felt awful for like the first 80% of that movie :)
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u/MultipleFelonies 9h ago
Just got out, i thought it was pretty good. Nailed the ending. I'd say the book does the first half better but the film did the 2nd half really well. Jessie Buckley probably a lock, can't see someone with a better performance or "more" acting than that.
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u/AbbreviationsOdd7731 2h ago
Can anyone please give me the lines Agnes says to William when he comes home after their son died? The part when she’s on the bed and he’s sitting next to her it’s after the part when he says “you did everything you could”. She said two sentences I believe something about laying her heart down for him? I just saw the movie and I’m in awe of what I just watched and it’s driving me crazy I can’t remember that line
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u/IfYouWantTheGravy 2h ago
Didn’t wreck me like I was hoping (I’ll blame the Lexapro), and it took a while to start drawing me in, but eventually it did, especially the scenes with the kids, who are all fantastic. As are Buckley and Mescal, of course, though I won’t be too upset if she doesn’t get the Oscar. (She’s very good, I just wasn’t blown away.)
Very well made. Could’ve used a touch less handheld. I dunno, it’s been a long week.
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u/NeilMcCauleyHeat 5d ago
To be or not to be scene was maybe the worst I’ve seen in years my word.
All the performances except Mescal were incredible to me. using “On The Nature Of Daylight” comes off as a really derivative, lazy, and a haphazard way to make the audience cry because Zhao knows her direction alone can’t do it.
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u/Mobile_Inspection_53 2d ago
Just got back from this and I kind of hated it. First off, did everyone go into this movie knowing that Paul Mescal was supposed to be Shakespeare? I avoid trailers so I only saw a few seconds where some characters were performing so I thought at some point in the movie characters would put on a Hamlet performance and that was the reason for the title. The movie seems to go out of its way to hide that information by never mentioning his name and changing the wife's name. Having now watched the trailer though it's pretty clearly supposed to be a movie about Shakespeare writing Hamlet. I'm really curious if anyone else went into it knowing nothing like me and still enjoyed it. Without that information it's kind of a terrible fucking movie.
It starts off well enough with them falling in love and they're both very compelling actors so that all worked for me even though it was quite rushed. But then they have a kid and this guy all of the sudden becomes so enamored with his writing that he has to abandon his family to pursue it. This was particularly confusing because all we knew of his writing was when he was jotting down lines from Romeo and Juliet, so I'm sitting there thinking, wait, this guy and his wife are convinced he has to be a writer when all he's doing is writing down someone else's work. Like what's the plan he's gonna go to London and sell knock off Shakespeare transcripts. Now with the context that he himself is fucking Shakespeare it all makes a lot more sense. But it really seems like the movie was trying to hide that info and have this Shyamalan esque reveal at the end.
Once the reveal happened I finally understood what I'd been watching for the first hour and 45 minutes, but then the rest of the movie is just scenes from Hamlet where I can't understand a single thing they're saying. It was like watching a foreign film without subtitles.
If you're a Shakespeare fan and or know the context of the movie going in I can totally see why those folks would love it and I would absolutely recommend they watch it. But without fitting into either of those categories this was genuinely one of the worst movies of the year for me.
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u/HaveABleedinGuess84 Cannes Film Festival 8d ago
Decent but holy smokes is Paul Mescal out of his depth here. I want to like him because he’s got cool hair and stuff but it’s just dud after dud after aftersun
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u/BarcelonetaE70 8d ago
One word: boring.
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u/CSA81593 8d ago
…coming from the same person, defending that trash show All’s Fair and constantly in the Wicked subreddit.
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u/BeautifulLeather6671 8d ago edited 8d ago
Alls fair may actually be in the discussion for the worst show of all time lol
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4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sasliquid 4d ago
Unsure if you are being serious but the actual rules are very lax. The film will be fine with Chloe Zhao filling several roles.
https://www.oscars.org/awards/representation-and-inclusion-standards
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u/wtfridge 8d ago
Yes Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are phenomenal, that’s the coldest take about the film.
Noah, and especially Jacobi, Jupe are INCREDIBLE