STORYLINE: This is the story of Agnes and Will. She is a healer, he is a writer. It is also the story of their children: Susanna, their firstborn, and their twins, Judith and Hamnet. It’s also the story of their small village in 16th century England. More to the point, it’s a story of the lives, and especially the deaths from plague, in their times. The story is told from the viewpoint of Agnes, and therein lies its power. (IMDb) 

   Misery (1990)

    Shakespeare in Love (1998)

    Capote (2005) 

   Midnight in Paris (2011)

    Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2019)

    That versatile list of feature films all share a common thread. All those fine features are about writers.  The new film from Academy Award winner Chloe Zhao, Hamnet (2025), joins that distinguished list of films.

    Hamnet, is much more then a film about a writer. It is a film about family.  Hamnet sets its story during the plague infested years of the sixteenth century, an era ripe for tragedy. 

   The film does not shy away from this theme.  After all, the story is the bases for William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Mixed into the film, so that the film is not solely tragic, are moments of joy, compassion, and tenderness. These little moments are the heartbeat of the motion picture.  This combination was the same with director Chloe Zhao’s breath taking film, The Rider (2017), and her Oscar winning feature Nomadland (2020).

   Personally I have been a fan of Chloe Zhao’s work since seeing The Rider in 2017,  I will admit The Eternals (2021) was not a film I cared for, but superhero fatigue has been a thing with me.  That was a major factor into my enjoyment of that film. 

  With Hamnet, the director returns to the kind of personal stories of  independent films, that I have come to admire of hers.  I was a bit overwhelmed with the emotional roller coaster the story took me on.  Not every film has to be an adrenaline filled action feature, laugh out loud comedy, or jump scare horror flick.  It’s good for me to be challenged with the heavy material as well.

    Yes, I enjoyed watching Chloe Zhao return to the world of  independent cinema with Hamnet.  It was a bit of a tough watch, with tender hearted moments to break up the tragedy. 

    Until next time I will see you at the movies!