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.
PAIGE
Across the board, Hamnet is one of the very best films of the year and a beautiful, gut-wrenching tragedy. Director Chloé Zhao crafts a deeply moving tale about love, grief, and the power of art's ability to transform one’s pain. From its rich and poetic imagery to its riveting performances, the film allows its audience to feel every ounce of emotion the characters endure. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal once again deliver breathtaking performances, but it’s newcomer Jacobi Jupe who steals the movie for me. I promise you will not leave the theater with a dry eye.
ROBERT
Grief is a swirling, nebulous cloud that takes many shapes and stalks people, waiting for an inopportune moment to strike. To wrangle and make sense of it takes self-reflection and usually an outlet to channel it. Watching Hamnet is like opening the heads of two whole families and viewing the grieving process as anthropomorphic pieces in each of their brains. Interestingly, it is a cinematic film, given its production design and long-range camera shots, that feels as intimate as watching Hamlet in the Globe Theater. The leads play a masterful dance with each other to elicit every emotion in human history.
This film was reviewed by Nick and Adriano as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.