Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal’s acclaimed British drama Hamnet has finally been released in UK cinemas. The movie first premiered last year, with a US release over Thanksgiving.
As such, a release over the pond has been a long time coming, and thankfully fans in the UK can now watch the film, which has been tipped for awards success.
Based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet tells a fictional story around the marriage of William Shakespeare (Mescal) and wife Agnes (Buckley), and how the grief over the death of their son inspired his play Hamlet.
Sitting at an impressive 86% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 274 reviews, the movie was called “a breathtakingly real and perfect look at art, love, and grief” by The Mary Sue.
TheWrap labelled it “a technical, artistic, intellectual, and emotional feast”, while The Film Maven suggested it was “a beautiful examination of mourning and artistic catharsis”.
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In Digital Spy‘s own five-star review, we wrote: “Yes, you will cry. But through the tears, you’ll realise you’ve just experienced one of the best movies of the year.”
Hamnet comes from Nomadland’s Chloé Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with original author O’Farrell, while Dune: Prophecy’s Emily Watson, The Brutalist’s Joe Alwyn and The Wonder’s David Wilmot.
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Buckley previously called working on the movie “the most fluid, creative, immediate film experience” she has had in an interview with Vanity Fair, adding: “Whatever Agnes represented as a woman and in relation to nature and to her children and to life and death…I found that very intense.”
Zhao herself told the publication of working on the project: “I was so surprised by how immersive and sensorial the book is – and not only that, but the book is written in a way that has almost the same heartbeat as how I would edit.”
Hamnet is out now in UK cinemas.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.