Reel Talk with Julia

Hamnet is a film directed by Oscar-winner and 2026 nominee, Chloé Zhao, and is an adaptation of a bestselling book of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell. The story entails a fictionalized account of the real-life death of William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son, Hamnet, and how the tragedy influenced the writing of his famous play, Hamlet.

I watched this movie in my usual stomping grounds, Arcata’s Minor Theater. In my recent years of watching and reviewing films on a semi-regular basis, I can say with almost certainty that Hamnet is one of the most intentional and technically perfect films I have seen in a while. Not one scene felt unnecessary; every minute felt carefully and artfully arranged. A breath of fresh air, especially in a world of three-hour runtimes that now seem more like unpolished drafts in comparison. 

Jessie Buckley is remarkable in this, and she is my personal vote for Best Actress this Oscar season. Buckley portrays Agnes, Shakespeare’s wife. In this role, she plays a strong woman in a way that isn’t often represented or applauded in the media. Typically, the strong woman trope is represented in her physical attributes, making them more masculine than maintaining feminine strength. Agnes, however, shows strength in her resilience in the face of intense grief and the sacrifices that she makes for her family. Although I could not directly relate to her, I admired her ability to remain true to herself no matter what.

The young actor Jacobi Jupe — who plays Hamnet — and his older brother, Noah Jupe — who plays Hamlet — later in the film in a play. To clarify, there is a play within the film, which could be a bit confusing. The actors’ relationship was excellent and represented that intentionality I mentioned earlier. In this role, Jacobi represents childlike invincibility; that sense of ease and bravery most of us had before realizing that the world is dangerous. You rarely see such memorable emotion from a child actor, so I applaud Jacobi and hope he goes on to be the next McKenna Grace. 

Shakespeare — played by Paul Mescal — writes Hamlet as his way to process the grief of losing his son. The character of Hamlet is, of course, based on Shakespeare’s son; a story within a story told through the play of Hamlet. 

2026 is the year we got the new Oscar category “Best Casting.” I’m hopeful this award will go to Hamnet, as the choice to have Jacobi’s real-life older brother play Hamlet was legendary. It just adds this layer of purposefulness that tugs at the heartstrings of the viewer as well as the characters on screen.

This film also struck a personal chord with me, as it deals with grief and how people mourn and move on with life after loss. 

There’s a specific scene in the film where Hamnet’s twin sister, Judith, goes to her brother, who lies waiting to be buried. She touches him and immediately sobs, exclaiming that the body could not be her brother. 

I related to that feeling so intensely, and this was the first time I felt my sense of grief reflected in film. It wasn’t that long ago that I was looking across the room at a loved one who passed away. I remember being immobilized, with this echoing thought pounding in my mind, that there was no reason for me to get any closer, because the person I knew wasn’t in the room with me. 

I wanted to shine a light on grief with this review because it’s such a strange, uncomfortable thing, and it isn’t represented in film nearly as often as it should be for how universal the feeling is. The memory of the real-life Hamnet, who died over 400 years ago, continues to live on in one of the most famous stories of all time. To me, this feels like an important lesson that reminds us why it’s important to remember the people we’ve lost, even when it’s painful. Because when you speak of them, they live again through your memory.

Julia is a journalism major and the co-EIC of the paper. She loves film and is a regular on Letterboxd. She also enjoys going on walks in the forest and taking pictures to relax. If you have a movie you’d like her to review, please email her at jk328@humboldt.edu.