SYNOPSIS: “Hamnet,” is a fictionalized look how the the lives of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes Hathaway are left in tatters following their son Hamnet’s death from the plague.
CAST: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn. Directed by Chloé Zhao.
REVIEW: Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name, “Hamnet” is an unflinching portrait of love and loss.
Set in Warwickshire, England in the late 16th century, “Hamnet” begins with love at first sight between the free-spirited Agnes Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) and Latin tutor and poet William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal). Defying their families, they marry and soon have twins, Judith (Olivia Lynes) and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).
When Hamnet is stricken with the bubonic plague, Agnes cares for him as Will, unaware of his son’s illness, works in London and returns after the boy’s death. Consumed by grief, they live separate lives of anguish, until that pain transforms into a work of art that provides an opportunity to heal.
Intimate and as raw, “Hamnet” is an open wound; a profound portrait of heartache that is as uncompromising as it is emotionally involving in its depiction of a mother’s loss of a child. Buckley, one of the finest actors of her generation, taps into the harrowing stages of grief with an unforgettable ferocity. Her despair is palatable, which makes the extended “healing power of art” climax, the climb out of the abyss of woe, even more powerful.
It’s not a spoiler to note that the work of art in question is Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet.” (BUT TREAD CAREFULLY, DETAILS TO FOLLOW) A title card at the film’s beginning reads, “Hamnet and Hamlet are in fact the same name, entirely interchangeable in Stratford records in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.”
As an examination of death from all angles—philosophical, emotional, spiritual and physical—the writing and preforming of “Hamlet” is an epiphany for both William and Agnes, in that it meets mortality head-on, from the mourning of a loved one, to the effects of loss on those left behind and the fear of, “what dreams may come” in “that undiscovered country, from whose bourn / No traveller returns.” Their healing may never be complete, but the play’s examination of art as a source of solace is uplifting.
The play, which makes up much of the film’s final moments, may be the thing, but it’s director Chloé Zhao’s intimate exploration of child loss, as expressed by Buckley’s riveting performance, that sticks. It’s so overwhelming I may never submit to the raw intensity of it again—it’s not a movie you could rightly say you “enjoyed”—but it stands as a powerful study of loss.
Richard Crouse and “Eternals” star Lia McHugh talk about her mother accidentally hanging up on a very important phone call, the influence of director Chloé Zhao on the story and cast and how she auditioned for the movie, even though she didn’t know what exactly what part she was trying out for.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe expands this weekend with the theatrical release of “Eternals,” a star-studded superhero film with thousands of years of backstory and 10 new-to-the-big-screen superheroes.
For the uninitiated, those who don’t know their Jack Kirby from their Bruno Kirby, the Eternals have existed in comic book form since 1976.
They are 10 immortals lead by matriarch Ajak (Salma Hayek) and Ikaris (Richard Madden). Rounding out the diverse cast (who are often lined up on-screen like they are posing for a 1980s album cover shoot) are matter manipulator Sersi (Gemma Chan), Thena (Angelina Jolie), a warrior with super strength and the ability to fly, strongman Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), the fastest woman in the universe, Bollywood star Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) who can shoot fireballs from his palms, the childlike ancient Sprite (Lia McHugh), master inventor Phastos (Brian Tyree), mind control expert Druig (Barry Keoghan) and Sersi’s human (or is he?) boyfriend Dane Whitman (Kit Harington).
Pay attention. You may need a scorecard to keep track.
7000 years ago they were sent to Earth by the all-powerful Prime Celestial Arishem (voiced by David Kaye) to keep humans safe from evil killer creatures called Deviants. Over the years they have been present at many defining world events, from ancient battles to Hiroshima. They live by a strict set of rules, including one, a prime directive of a sort, that instructs them to only protect humans from Deviants. That means no man-on-man conflict. If they interfere with earthly concerns, Arishem says, humans will never figure out how to protect themselves.
When the Eternals vanquished the Deviants, they went undercover, blending in with the normies for eons.
Now, in present day, the Deviants are back and badder than they ever were—this time around they can heal themselves—but can the Eternals battle the deadly invaders while pondering the real reason Arishem put them on earth in the first place?
The 25th epic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe spans millennia but tackles many current issues. Themes of unity and the power of connection are woven into the story, topped with messages of self-awareness and being who you are. The ten new superheroes are more introspective than your run-of-the-mill superbeing, expressing their innermost feelings when they aren’t grappling with the existential threat posed by the Deviants. I mean, when was the last time you saw a superhero cry? The ideas expressed regarding sacrifice, interventionism and purpose of mission are endlessly replayed but never truly explored. It is pop psychology disguised as depth.
But, nonetheless, they take the time to pontificate. At two hours and thirty-seven minutes, “Eternals’” story doesn’t exactly feel like it takes an eternity to tell, but it does feel long, especially if you stay to the end to see the two post credit scenes.
Oscar winning director Chloé Zhao, who also co-wrote the script, brings humanity to these alien creatures, but the blockbuster style action, endless exposition and humanist musings sit uneasily beside one another. It’s ambitious, but tonal shifts abound and by the time the CGI orgy of the finale gets underway, “Eternals” simultaneously feels like too much and too little.
Let’s meet we meet Jessica Bruder, author of the 2017 book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” and Bob Wells, a real-life nomad and one of the stars of the Oscar nominated film “Nomadland.”
A blend of fiction and nonfiction, “Nomadland,” the melancholy new Frances McDormand drama, is a timely story of a woman who learns to adapt and survive after losing everything she held dear.
Just as Fern (McDormand) cuts herself off from the norms of regular society, “Nomadland” is not tied to traditional storytelling structures. Its unhurried 107-minute running time is leisurely, not plot driven but utterly compelling. Director Chloé Zhao follows the widowed Fern as she leaves Empire, Nevada, a small company town now bleeding residents after the closure of the U.S. Gypsum Corporation factory. So many people have fled to greener pastures that the post office discontinued the local zip code.
Leaving all that she has known behind, Fern loads up her beat-up old van and hits the road, crisscrossing America looking for seasonal work at every stop. She’s not homeless, just unencumbered, solo but not solitary. “I’m not homeless,” she says. I’m just houseless.”
Along the way she discovers a community of fellow nomads, people who teach her the ropes of life on the road. Here’s what I learned: If you have bad knees you need a taller bathroom bucket for your van.
Fern does what it takes to get by, working at an Amazon fulfillment center or taking on caretaker gigs at rec parks, but her iterant lifestyle isn’t about disconnection or colored by loneliness. Her journey is one of self-discovery, of survival, of serenity. She is gritty, but open and friendly, independent and generous. She’s not an exile from “The Grapes of Wrath,” she’s simply living life on her own terms without a drop of self-pity and McDormand never overplays her. There is an authenticity to the performance, aided by Zhao’s casting of real-life nomads like “van-dwelling evangelist” Bob Wells, and travelers Linda May and Charlene Swankie, that never feels less than real, sometimes almost uncomfortably so.
At times “Nomadland” feels like a documentary. Zhao and McDormand have created a beautiful character study about the flipside of the American Dream. As Fern makes her way from gig to gig Zhao decorates the screen with eye-popping visuals courtesy of Joshua James Richards’s cinematography of the landscapes that form the backdrop to Fern’s journey. The story is poetic but never cloying and always reaching for the horizon.
