#hamnet

#hamnet

While Chloe Zhao's Hamnet has been nominated for eight Academy Awards including best picture, for many it's a tiny silver hoop earring worn by Paul Mescal in his portrayal of William Shakespeare that steals the show. Worn in his left ear lobe, the barely-there hoop has people fixated online. Begging my boyfriend to get a tiny hoop earring too, reads one post dedicated to the accessory. I cried for over half of Hamnet, but Paul Mescal's slutty little earring made me feel conflicted, reads another.

Shuffling under the mortal coil this week (aka hosting the Gabfest), it's our OG players Steve, Dana, and Julia. Like a morose Danish prince contemplating a human skull, they gaze upon the Oscar nominated , based on the novel by Maggie O'Farrell inspired by William Shakespeare's life. Directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, Hamnet has brought some critics to tears and left others cold. Our hosts share where they landed.

Grief-porn, in relation to cinema, would suggest that the film in question is emotionally manipulative, formulaic; grief-art would suggest the film unleashes feelings both universal and true. It's curiously circular. In a film about grief, the valorised quality is depth of feeling; it stands or falls by how profoundly the hero(ine) experiences emotion, and the audience proves its acuity, buys itself into the imaginative contract, by its ability to mirror that profundity.

Mashable and Focus Features are teaming up for advance screenings to bring Hamnet to keen viewers ahead of release (at no cost). There are still spots left for the San Francisco screening! Details: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, 7 PM PT AMC Metreon 16 - 135 4th St #3000, San Francisco, CA 94103 You will be allowed to bring a guest. Please plan to arrive early as seating is on a first-come basis and tickets are not guaranteed.

Among one of the heralded festival favorites to make its Canadian premiere was Chloé Zhao's breathtaking adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's "Hamnet." Rich in beauty and astounding performances, "Hamnet" is a stunning domestic drama set in the household of William Shakespeare, but with a twist: in this retelling of the Bard's life, it is his wife who is the real subject of the movie.

Chloe Zhao's adaptation of Hamnet has won this year's people's choice award at the Toronto film festival. The acclaimed drama, based on Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning novel, stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal and tells a fictionalised account of William Shakespeare and wife Agnes as they grieve for their young son. The award has come to suggest future Oscar success with every recipient from 2011 to 2023 scoring either a best picture nomination or a win.