HAMNET
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Jacobi Jupe, Emily Watson, Olivia Lynes, and David Wilmot
Director: Chloé Zhao
NICK
There’s no doubt Chloé Zhao makes thoughtful films, but I've never really connected with most of her offerings. That all changed with Hamnet. In the early stages of the film, there is a lot of meditative beauty, almost like a fairytale. It’s when the love story hits the climax and the tone changes where things stand out. Both Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal give great performances here, but it's Zhao's direction that really elevates this sorrowful journey. I could feel the emotion bubbling inside me as the story grew, and when it was released, it was both cathartic and overwhelming. Zhao’s best by my count.
ADRIANO
Being that this is the hardest a movie has made me cry in recent memory, you'd think Hamnet is just a plea for your tears. But director/co-writer Chloé Zhao's meditation provides more than just a tear-jerker. Taking her time to show the love of this family before tragedy befalls them, we get to see incredible performances from Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, and Jacobi Jupe, and stunning cinematography from Łukasz Żal. Hamnet shows us what catharsis after unspeakable loss can look like and the healing power of art. It's hard not to see where the love is coming from here.
BODE
I don’t cry very often during a movie, but I’d be damned if I said that Hamnet DIDN’T leave me in a puddle of tears. In the wrong hands, this exploration of how an unspeakable loss within Shakespeare’s family inspired one of his greatest works could feel cheap, but with Chloé Zhao, that adjective need not apply. Thanks to her naturalistic, empathetic filmmaking, and the great performances she elicits from Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, and Jacobi Jupe (in the titular role), this story is elevated to deeply affecting heights. I know that some may rub up against it. I’m not one of them.
AMARÚ
Hamnet is quite the love story. A story I usually don’t resonate with in these slow-churn Old English movies. But a familial love that goes beyond understanding and hits every part of the soul. An understanding that transcends grief, hope, tragedy, and healing, representing how people truly become interconnected. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are transcendent, their enticingly wicked connection endearing you to their family’s everlasting bond, bolstered by Jacobi Jupe’s breakthrough performance, and brought home by his brother Noah in an ending that absolutely broke me. With Hamnet, director Chloé Zhao slowly entraps your heart, destroys it, then mends it back stronger.
This film was reviewed by Nick and Adriano as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.