Hamnet

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Expectation: 😶 (Went in completely blind)

Reality: 🤔🥹😵‍💫😭

Warning: light spoilers ahead!

Hamnet is an emotional roller coaster 😅 which I typically love, but kind of have a love/hate relationship with in this film.

The only thing I read before watching was the synopsis: Hamnet tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

I used to be really into Shakespeare and I know that Hamlet is a tragedy about a prince who wants revenge against his uncle who killed his father, married his mother, and took the throne.

Now that I’ve seen the film, the phrase “love and loss that inspired the creation of Hamlet” really jumps out at me because I totally thought it was a retelling of sorts and was very confused for the first hour or so as I kept waiting for some guy’s uncle to kill his dad 😆

I did not learn until about 3/4 of the way through the film that our leading man was Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal). The friend who saw this with me also missed this, and we are pretty sure nobody said his name in the first half of the film so we’re not sure if you’re not supposed to know that he’s Shakespeare or if the clues completely went over our heads… Sorry if this is a spoiler but I would have preferred to go in with this information!!

The performances in this film are top tier. It’s an absolutely heart-wrenching film. All the actors ripped my heart open, especially the kids.

That said, the pacing is quite slow and there are long stretches where it seems like nothing is happening. Likely intentional on director Chloé Zhao’s part—so this is not a complaint, it’s a self-reflection of how deeply affected I’ve become by this age of instant gratification—but I found myself very bored at times and struggling to pay attention.

I’m glad I stuck with it, because I’m so happy I saw this beautiful film, and I’m even more grateful that I saw it in a movie theater and had my phone turned off because if I had watched this on streaming it wouldn’t have held my attention past the first 15 minutes.

Elements of this movie are very strange… is Shakespeare’s wife a witch? Is this a drama or a fantasy? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Had I been home on my couch, I wouldn’t have been invested enough in the characters to find out.

In the theater, I sat with the passing and got to know the characters as time went on, grew to love them, and mourned with them when they lost loved ones.

This is the experience we’re meant to have. See it in the theater.

If you see it — come back and let me know on my contact page. I’d love to hear your thoughts!