The Pandemic was a difficult time for nearly everyone. But few industries can claim the disastrous lasting impact of COVID more than Hollywood and the movie theater experience. During this cinematic void, Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao experienced both her great rise and great fall. Her subtle indie masterpiece, Nomadland, proved to be a timely examination of lost fortune and lost hope that resonated with the financial impact of the pandemic and propelled itself to an Oscar-winning Best Picture. Yet, within one calendar year, all of Zhao’s goodwill and momentum came to a screeching halt following the box office flop of her Marvel debut, Eternals. These drastic and rapid extremes have left Zhao’s public perception in limbo for the better part of four years, but that’s all ancient history thanks to her new, monumentally adored Oscar-destined effort, Hamnet.
Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name, Zhao’s latest follows the budding romance of famed playwright William Shakespeare (played by Gladiator II’s Paul Mescal) and the enchanting Agnes (Jessie Buckley), a nature-lover who’s rumored to be the daughter of a forest witch. But after their love blossoms into a family of five, they are forced to reconcile the loss of one of their children. Overtaken by grief, Agnes and William must learn to accept each other’s unique methods of coping such a grave and tragic loss.
Hamnet has collected a vast number of Audience Awards throughout its festival run, most notably at the London and Toronto International Film Festivals. Toronto’s has proven to be a coveted award, often assuring a Best Picture Nomination and, in many instances, an Oscar win. But despite this enormous outpouring of love for Zhao’s triumphant return, Hamnet suffers in a few key areas. There’s a lack of subtlety engrained in the script, one that plays like a cringeworthy music biopic where a sense of obligation takes the audience through a nostalgia-infused checklist of “Must Mentions”. In Hamnet, it’s no different. Zhao’s screenplay includes a plethora of dialogue delivered by Mescal’s Shakespeare that are plucked word-for-word from his catalog of greatest hits. It’s through contrived moments such as these that the foundation and authenticity of Hamnet is broken, relegating the film to serve as mostly a manipulative piece of melodrama and “grief porn”.
Still, though, through the cloudy dust of an often-overacted examination of wailing and emotional torment, mostly at the hands of Jessie Buckley who channels her finest Hugh Jackman (in Prisoners) and Sean Penn (in Mystic River) impersonations, Hamnet does deliver some exceptional onscreen moments. Mescal’s Shakespeare is far more subdued in his grieving process, harnessing that anguish into his writing where this tragedy becomes a basis for his timeless classic, Hamlet. And the film’s epic conclusion brings Agnes to the premiere of William’s new play, and the electricity of this finale reverberates long after the credits roll. Rarely does a mediocre journey conclude in such a strong and impactful fashion, leaving me straddled on the fence with my overall opinion of the film.
It appears as though my take is miles away from other critics and audiences who have wrapped their heartbroken arms around Chloe Zhao’s film and embraced it with the deepest of adoration. Newcomer Jacobi Jupe delivers a remarkable turn as the titular character, adding an extra layer of sadness to his ultimate demise. Yet, Buckley’s exaggerated turn and the lack of nuance in Hamnet’s screenplay sour the otherwise many impressive aspects to this fictionalized story.
Grade: 3 out of 5 stars