By Aydan Cantu

With Oscar season right around the corner, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet has been one of the most discussed films this year. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell (who co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Zhao) that tells a fictionalized account of the death of Hamnet Shakespeare (Jacobi Jupe) and the grief that follows his parents (Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal). 

I should make it clear that I do not like Zhao at all. I am not one to hold grudges, but it still infuriates me that the Academy decided to award her both Best Picture and Best Director for Nomadland (2020), one of the most mediocre films to be released this decade. There’s been speculation that Zhao had landed herself in the director’s jail after the critical and commercial failure of her previous film, 2021’s Eternals.  

Since its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival back in August, Hamnet has constantly been praised as a film so cathartic that you’ll cry to the point where you feel good. I found that not to be the case at all. Don’t get me wrong, I found Hamnet to be a very emotional movie, and at times, choked up during certain scenes. But nothing about it felt good or cathartic. If anything, the film is so poorly paced that by the time the emotions started, I was clocked out, waiting for the film to end. 

The story is fine. It’s nothing special, despite what audiences claim. I’ve seen films that handle grief and tragedy far better than this one, and because of that, all the crying and wailing in this movie just didn’t work. If you want to watch a film that handles grief perfectly, I strongly recommend Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea (2016). 

Additionally, I found the performances to be okay. Aside from Buckley and Jacobi Jupe, I found the rest of the performances to be okay at best. Buckley is basically performing a one-woman show half the time, and she kills it. To call it nothing short of fantastic would be an understatement. Every time I think about it, I’m lost for words. Those wails and screeches she belts out are both horrifying and heartbreaking, and still echo through my mind. However, I couldn’t care less about Paul Mescal’s performance. 

Half the time, he’s just in the background, and when compared to the tour-de-force Buckley’s performing, he comes off as emotionally flat. None of the emotions he conveys are earned, and every time he even attempts to portray some emotion, the more I want to wince in pain just seeing him try. It really stumps me as to why he’s gotten so much acclaim, because he does absolutely nothing. Mescal is one of the more promising actors today, yet none of his work has astounded me. I think he’s a good actor, but not the great actor everyone else seems to think he is, but that’s for another day. 

The rest of the performances are give-or-take, but I despised Noah Jupe’s brief appearance as an actor playing Hamlet. Granted, I just got into Shakespeare, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone butcher his words as Jupe does. His voice sounds as if the squeaky-voiced teen from The Simpsons was told by his parents to start acting, but never had the courage to tell him he’s actually bad. 

Additionally, Zhao’s direction is meandering and meaningless. I appreciate her use of long takes, especially when most directors would cut after a certain time, but that’s the only praise I can give her. Yet, those long takes play a huge factor in why I feel the film is poorly paced. Unless there’s real drama happening, there’s no reason why one needs to see a whole still take of Agnes (Buckley) moving through the forest or walking around the house. 

The costume design by Malgosia Turzanska and score by Max Richter are also the film’s strong suits. The costumes bring the viewer right into Shakespearean England, and Richter’s score will tear at your heartstrings. Aside from Buckley’s performance, Richter’s score is easily the most emotional element of the film.  At the end of the day, I didn’t hate Hamnet; however strongly dislike it. I feel some of my dislike towards Zhao definitely played a part, but I attempted to go into the film with an open mind. Yet the film’s poor pacing and overhype from both critics and audiences really turned me off, leaving me with a generous rating of three out of five stars.