Hamnet
93
Easily one of the best movies of the year and not explicitly but heavily credited to these unbelievable performances and heart.
The talks you've heard are correct, Buckley puts on the acting performance of a lifetime and steals the screen everytime she is on it. Since I'm not in film school I can't directly dissect every part of it but everything is just on, her eyes ooze with pain at every glance and her twitches convey just the right amount of anger. You can feel her anguish with every scene and just as much her joy in the little things. Her ability to convey fictional love is incomprehensible and my jaw was dropped several times from her alone, wow.
And don't think for a second that her performance is the only one, the entire main cast is off the charts talented and truly feels like a family from start to finish, one that goes through unimaginable heartache and euphoria throghout. Hamnet blew me away, to be such a young child and have the ability to trump even the most acclaimed adults, it is a marvel to watch, he brought me to tears more than once and to share the screen with such a great cast to stand out is incredible. Of course Mescal and the sisters were great too, Will's depression, anger, and dedication are never understated and his mind is one nobody wishes to see. Susan and Jude while not the focus held their own greatly, able to deliver on the emotions and joy alike.
The story is astonoshing, not sure if this is a true story but to craft one with such excellence and care is masterful, the pacing is perfectly matched with the tones and direction and although it feels like a lifetime the family parts pass by quick yet rythmic and beautiful.
Finally, i'll touch on my only true negative, the final sequence. While I will say I never read nor desire to read Shakespeare, there needs to be a limit, I understood maybe a handful of words in the play and it left me extremely lost, besides knowing the gist of the stort that was being told the details were fully in the fog for me, the old english sounds like gibberish to me and I just wish I could enjoy this tragedy like it was intended. While a masterful film it builds a barrier for people like me to experience a full masterpiece.