For me, Hamnet is the kind of film that once again plunged me into that same state I felt when watching Terrence Malick’s movies, something profoundly deep and deeply sensual. I especially want to highlight the film’s aesthetic richness: the colors, the framing, everything looks both decorative and utterly convincing at the same time. In a way, Hamnet isn’t just a story told through conventional narrative; it’s a film that tries to convey profound emotions which are quite difficult to express in any other medium besides cinema.
You see, film is, in some sense, a symbiosis of music, words, visual style, and point of view. The movie could have taken many different paths, but it chose exactly the one where every little piece of the story unfolds slowly, deliberately, and sequentially. I genuinely loved literally everything about this film, the acting and direction are especially masterful. Jessie Buckley managed to do something incredible through her character: you literally feel like you’re in a theater watching a stage production, not just a movie.
I rarely pay much attention to the plot alone (though I understand many people read summaries first and only then decide whether to watch), but what really matters here is how the film is made, and in this case, they’ve created something truly unique and wonderful! I loved the film so much and I highly, highly recommend it.