Hamnet

I'm upset that it took so long for me to watch Hamnet, but finally I was able to. I knew absolutely nothing about it aside from that it had something to do with Shakespeare's Hamlet. I really loved this movie. It's on a similar level as Train Dreams, but it doesn't have the annoying narrator - the one significant thing holding that movie back from being five stars, in my opinion. That means that, as of right now, my favorite film from 2025 is Hamnet. With all of the Oscar buzz surrounding Jessie Buckley, I knew she was going to bring a killer performance, and she absolutely delivered. It's easily the best performance by an actress from last year, maybe even the best performance period. She's extremely talented at showing emotion through her facial expressions, but she definitely goes through some very dark moments in this movie that force her to be more expressive, and she nails it. She brings Agnes Shakespeare to life and completely gives it her all. It's my first time seeing her, and I'll definitely be keeping a lookout for her in the future. The other performances honestly got snubbed. Paul Mescal might just give his career best in this, keep in mind I've not seen Normal People. He does a great job at playing the most emotionally broken people imaginable. He and Jessie Buckley have wonderful chemistry together. All of the children in this are phenomenal, especially Jacobi Jupe. Definitely some of the best child performances I've seen in a long time. Chloe Zhao has a short but growing filmography, and no matter the quality of the movie, even if it's The Eternals, it looks fantastic. She and her cinematographer for Hamnet, Łukasz Żal, have a knack for visual style that agrees with me. It's a gorgeous movie. I'd like to rewatch this and a few more movies before the Oscars to see if my thoughts still hold up, but I absolutely loved this movie. List: *2025 Ranked* Last Review: *Avengers: Infinity War*