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Hamnet review: Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley burn in William Shakespeare tragedy
Before Hamlet, there was Hamnet. He was the young son of William Shakespeare who died in his youth, inspiring the playwright to spin the timeless tragedy of a doomed Danish prince. Hamnet explores that true story through a mystical and matriarchal lens of Maggie O'Farrell's heralded novel of the same name, adapted by the Academy Award-winning director of Nomadland, Chloé Zhao, and her Academy-nominated actors, Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter).
This period drama seems primed to be a contender this award season. But Oscar buzz tends to mold the expectations of dramas — especially those even loosely biographical — into one box: star-stuffed theatrics festooned with tears, a soaring emotional score, and pretty scenes of pain, perfect for an award ceremony sizzle reel. To expect such a thing from Zhao, Mescal, and Buckley would be to ignore what's brought them acclaim to begin with.
This trio has separately won praise for their nuanced expressions of joy and pain, from Buckley's star-making as an aspiring singer in Wild Rose to Zhao's bittersweet character drama Nomadland to Mescal's heart-wrenching turn as a lost love in All of Us Strangers. In Hamnet, their powers combined make for a drama that is more than a sentimental tearjerker poised for Oscar accolades; it is an earthy and poetic raw tale of love and loss.
Hamnet focuses on the story of Shakespeare's witchy wife, Agnes.
Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features
Rather than an earnest recreation of the real-life marriage of William Shakespeare and Anne "Agnes" Hathaway, Hamnet follows O'Farrell's interpretation, which imagines Agnes (Buckley) as a woman in touch with the woods and prone to premonitions of the future.
In the film, Agnes scoffs at gossip that she is a witch. But her woodsy appeal — which includes wearing brash red robes and having a pet hawk — attracts the passionate and bookish son of a local glove-maker. Playing Will and Agnes from their youth into adulthood, Mescal and Buckley easily capture the lusty impulsiveness of young love. Their arms entangle with a violent intensity as they claw private moments from the mundane routines demanded of their families.
Unlike in his yet-to-be-written comedies, marriage is not a happily-ever-after for the pair — as tragedy will follow. Still, marriage is a newfound freedom as they redefine what their married life looks like. For the Shakespeares, that means Will going off to London to write plays and express his soul in tales of star-crossed lovers and fortune-telling witches. For Agnes, that means raising their three children: Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet. But a vision of her own deathbed makes Agnes certain that one of her children will die before her.
Jacobi Jupe is a rare find as Hamnet.
Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features
Whether you know the history of Shakespeare's home life, are a fan of O'Farrell's novel, or can just read the room, it's clear early on that Agnes is off with her expectation that the child to die will be her youngest, Judith. This gives an enhanced tension to every moment that she experiences with her bright, adventurous, and caring boy, Hamnet, because we know their time together is short, and she has no clue.
Such a setup would be ripe for agony regardless. But young Jacobi Jupe is stupendous as the 11-year-old Hamnet. Under Zhao's direction, he avoids the pitfalls all too common to child actors in family dramas. He is neither precocious nor ethereal. He galumphs about with his sisters, chuckling in play, swapping clothes for a child-like prank in which the twins trade identities. Before his mother, he dreams of being on the stage, where he gets to sword fight to the cheers of an audience. Jupe frolics with a mix of clumsiness and earnestness that reads simply as authenticity. So when the plague hits the Shakespeare home, and Judith specifically, it's natural that this sweet boy would curl into his twin sister's cot to comfort her.
When Hamnet speaks in a whisper of an ominous "him" that's watching the twins, things get eerie — suggesting he has the same gift for premonition as his mum. But even here, Jupe avoids cliché, in this case that of the haunted house child, wide-eyed in terror. Instead, he is a boy who is scared, but accustomed to playing the hero, and so soldiers on to help his sister with one more switcheroo. And because he feels so real, the pain of his end will take your breath away.
Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are riveting in Hamnet.
Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features
In early scenes of courting, they sizzle, each utilizing their well-reputed onscreen intensity. As the Shakespeare marriage gets complicated by distance and grief, they become explosions, destined to collide. But beautiful work is done in scenes without each other. Buckley, who is unquestionably the lead in the film, harnesses the focus seen in Wild Rose and the ferality of Men for a distinct portrait of grief.
Her rage and resentment are both irrational and understandable. While she is in the home where her boy was lost, her husband is off in London. She can't see that he doesn't escape the loss of Hamnet, but is, in fact, consumed by it. Hamlet begins to take shape as Will's means of making sense of his own guilt and mourning.
The "to be or not to be" speech becomes Mescal's greatest challenge to date. Not only because it's the iconic speech by which the greats are judged, but also because he's not playing Hamlet within it, but the man who wrote that speech to make sense of his own helplessness in the face of mortality. It's a layered and profound moment of pain and pondering, unfurling a labyrinth of dark feelings and darker thoughts. And yet, it's not even Mescal's best scene.
That comes before Will knows Hamnet is dead. Rushing home because he's heard his little Judith is at death's door, Will barrels into the family home to see the girl alive and well. They hug, and he bursts with smiles and relief. But then he sees the little form covered in a white sheet, posed before the fire.
Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features
"Where is he?" Will says, and in that simple question, Mescal channels a mix of dread, hope, and fear that could bring down the Globe theatre. It's not booming. That's not Zhao's way. It's delivered strong but raw, quavering. It is what pain sounds like when stripped of Hollywood shine. It's too human for an Oscar reel. It's too heartbreaking.
And all of this leads to a climax that takes Agnes and Will's pain to the stage, that of the Globe, to be specific. There Hamnet becomes Hamlet, in a prolonged and nerve-shredding sequence that is fueled by the couple's loss and their divide. No matter how many times you've seen Hamlet, this section hits different because it becomes about the pain that inspired the Dane.
Props to Noah Jupe, who plays the onstage Hamlet, simultaneously channeling an actor striving to impress an audience and the dreamy wish of a mourning mother all at once. In a shrewd move from Zhao, she cast the older brother to play Hamlet to the younger's Hamnet, and the vague familial appearance makes this climax all the more haunting. Noah offers a pitch-perfect echo of his brother Jacobi’s performance with flourishes of maturity and theater-worthy showmanship.
Still, I have one qualm with Hamnet.
Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features
While I can see Zhao's vision and admire her restraint, I must confess I wished for a bit more cinema. I'm not asking for the emoting common in biopics aiming for Oscar glory — which this film is not strictly, on either point. Instead, I wish Zhao had embraced the visual storytelling of Agnes' premonitions as she did with the earthiness of Will's environment.
As Agnes' visions are not just key to the plot but also to the core to her motivations, I wish Zhao had let us see them with her. Hamnet is rooted in Agnes' perspective, yet the screenplay by Zhao and novelist O'Farrell only has dialogue describing these visions of a deathbed with two guests, a landscape of trees, and a dark, infinite cave. By not using this visual medium to show us what Agnes sees, the filmmakers keep Agnes a bit at a distance.
By contrast, Will's view of things gets a visual component through the climactic production of Hamlet. So, in a way, we are given more access to his inner world than Agnes'. And while the film is moving, I sometimes felt like I was watching Agnes' experience instead of feeling it with her — like I was on the outside looking in. Where with Mescal's Will, the play is the thing…that shows the heartache of the scribe.
Still, Hamnet is a bold rebellion, and I respect that. Not only does Zhao reject the temptations of glossy Hollywood biopics, but also the regal romance or cerebral theatricality of a barrage of Oscar-adored Shakespeare adaptations, from a handful of intense Hamlets to The Tragedy of Macbeth to the winsome Shakespeare in Love. Her Shakespeare and company are more feral, bringing this historic tragedy fresh blood and true grit.
For these big swings, Hamnet could be an unconventional but strong Oscar contender. But whether you're invested in awards season or just seeking a powerful drama from actors at the top of their form, be sure to bring tissues. Hamnet could leave you tear-soaked and in tatters.
Hamnet was reviewed out of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film will open in theaters Dec.12.
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To creep around.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
SNEAK
Hurdle Word 2 hint
A long-legged bird.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
STORK
Hurdle Word 3 hint
To throw.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
CHUCK
Hurdle Word 4 hint
More accurate.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
TRUER
Final Hurdle hint
They show when one smiles.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
TEETH
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
This summer, FX's Alien: Earth latched onto my brain like a Facehugger latches onto a new host.
Now, with the release of the show's Season 1 finale, you'd think that Facehugger would drop off and leave me be. You'd be wrong! Instead, the Season 1 finale leaves viewers with some major questions we'll be puzzling over until the show's potential return.
Here are the five biggest questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2.
What does a Neverland run by hybrids look like?
Season 1 of Alien: Earth ends with the group of hybrids known as the Lost Boys in total control over the Neverland research facility. They've imprisoned Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Morrow (Babou Ceesay), Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), and Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson). Now, with the adults out of the way, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) declares it's time for the hybrids to "rule."
But what will their rule entail? Will they stay on Neverland, or will they try to extend their authority to the rest of the world? Will they remain fast allies, or will they turn against one another and go full Lord of the Flies on their new island kingdom?
How will Weyland-Yutani and Alien: Earth's other corporations react to Boy Kavalier's plight?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
By the end of Alien: Earth Season 1, Weyland-Yutani is closing in on Neverland in order to take back the specimens Boy Kavalier stole. But will Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) change tack when she realizes her rival is being held captive? Will she leave the island alone or try to stage a hostile takeover? Perhaps her priorities will change entirely, shifting from trying to capture the alien specimens to trying to perfect Boy Kavalier's revolutionary hybrid tech. Either way, her looming presence does not bode well for the newly independent hybrids.
Weyland-Yutani isn't the only other major corporation on the board in Alien: Earth, though. There are three other corporations we haven't truly met yet: Dynamic, Lynch, and Threshold. Could they be joining the party in Alien: Earth's future?
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What's next for the loose orchid and eyeball aliens?
While the Xenomorph may be under Wendy's control, there are still several alien threats running wild on the island. In the Season 1 finale, the orchid alien (aka D. Plumbicare) revealed that it could turn into a floating, octopus-like creature and got loose in Neverland. I would not want to be walking around the island with that out there, that's for sure.
But that's not all: Alien: Earth's breakout star, the eyeball alien T. Ocellus, found a new host in the corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). We've seen T. Ocellus take over a cat corpse and a human body, but now we get to see it go full zombie mode in what might be Alien: Earth's coolest development yet. But what's T. Ocellus's plan while in Arthur's body? Will it try to find a new, stronger host in, say, a hybrid? (And what would that look like?) Will it finally have a conversation with its biggest fan, Boy Kavalier? And how in the world will Dame react when she sees her beloved husband with a massive new eyeball and a burst-open chest? Bring on the zombie shenanigans!
Will the Xenomorph continue serving Wendy, or will it rebel?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
For now, Wendy and her Xenomorph seem pretty tight. But what happens if the Xenomorph goes through a rebellious teenage phase and decides it doesn't want to serve its human mother figure anymore? Could the hybrids lose their grip on Neverland if the apex predator at their disposal decides to turn on them?
Wendy's Xenomorph also isn't the only Xenomorph on the island. There's also the specimen that burst out of Arthur's chest. As it grows, will it become territorial with Wendy's Xenomorph, or will it join the hybrid-Xeno family and view Wendy as its queen? If so, what are the odds Wendy tries to build a whole Xenomorph army?
How will Alien: Earth tie back to Alien?
The question hanging over any prequel is "how will this tie back to the original?" and with Alien: Earth, that question is especially pressing, given that it takes place two years before the events of Alien. By that point, there are no mentions of hybrid technology, nor are there any mentions of them in the sequels. So what will happen to the hybrids between then and now to render them obsolete? It's a daunting question, but it's one that Alien: Earth will certainly have to contend with as it closes in on the original films.
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
After eight episodes of terrifying new creatures, Alien homages, and existential questions about the future of humanity, Alien: Earth Season 1 has come to a close. And what a close it was.
The finale, titled "The Real Monsters," flips the power dynamic that's been in place for the entire season. By the end of the episode, the hybrid Lost Boys, led by Wendy (Sydney Chandler), have gained total control over their keepers, including Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis). This power shift has been in the cards since Alien: Earth's first episode, but how do we get here? Let's break it down.
Alien: Earth's hybrids finally realize how strong they are.
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
From the first moment Alien: Earth introduces Wendy in her super-strong, super-fast, super-durable hybrid body, it's clear that she and her fellow Lost Boys could absolutely wreck Prodigy's Neverland security team if they wanted to. That idea doesn't cross their minds, though. Instead, the Lost Boys are still children in consciousness, and they believe Neverland to be a safe paradise for them.
However, this idea erodes over the course of Alien: Earth's first season, as the Lost Boys lose confidence in the people they've been told to trust. They're endangered and experimented on. Nibs' (Lily Newmark) traumatic memories were manipulated. Isaac (Kit Young) died while tending to the alien specimens. Morrow (Babou Ceesay) threatened to kill Slightly's (Adarsh Gourav) family. Each horrifying incident wears away at the Lost Boys' childlike innocence, turning the idyllic Neverland into a hell on Earth.
Ironically, these incidents only increase the Lost Boys' feelings of powerlessness, even though they're the most powerful beings on Prodigy's remote island. But it's also in one of those scenes of powerlessness — when Prodigy forces corner Nibs, Wendy, and her brother Joe aka Hermit (Alex Lawther) on their escape boat in episode 7 — that the Lost Boys begin to realize their power. Nibs fully rips a soldier's jaw off, leaving Hermit to shoot (but not kill) her. Here, a horrified Wendy learns two things. First: Humans, including her brother, are terrified of the hybrids. Second: They have good reason to be. The hybrids are extremely dangerous. So why not embrace that?
That's the realization Wendy comes to in Alien: Earth's Season 1 finale. "All this time, we've been afraid of them," she tells the Lost Boys as they sit trapped in a Neverland cage. "But I think they should be afraid of us."
The Peter Pan allegories come to a head in the Alien: Earth Season 1 finale.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
Embracing the Neverland staffers' fear of them is the final stage in the Lost Boys' loss of their childish innocence. Or, in terms of Boy Kavalier's relentless Peter Pan references, this is them finally "growing up." However, that's exactly what the Prodigy founder and the rest of Neverland don't want to happen. As Wendy puts it, "We're all in this cell because we can't be kids anymore, but they won't let us be adults."
Nibs has another suggestion for what they are, one that's especially fitting after seeing the graves of their dead human bodies. "We're all ghosts," she says.
So what do these ghosts do? They turn Neverland into a haunted house, with Wendy using her in-built connection to the facility to manipulate video feeds, elevators, and doors to terrify every last soldier and scientist. Of course, having a Xenomorph at your beck and call helps too.
The entire episode serves as both a liberation for the Lost Boys and an identity crisis for Wendy, otherwise known by her human name, Marcy. She tells her brother, "I don't know what I am. I'm not a child. I'm not a grown-up. I'm not Marcy. I'm not Wendy. And I can't be what everyone wants me to be."
(Earlier in the season, Joe even questions whether Wendy truly holds his sister's consciousness, yet another blow to one of the pillars of Wendy's identity.)
Wendy's statement reflects the binaries in the world of Alien: Earth. Child and adult. Human and synthetic. Hybrids exist somewhere in between, blurring boundaries and creating a new kind of personhood. Wendy and the Lost Boys have spent the entire series having not just new names but entirely new identities imposed on them by exterior forces. Now, they get to make their own. Fellow hybrid Curly (Erana James) embraces her former name, Jane, as Wendy reminds each of the Lost Boys of theirs — a move the late Isaac, formerly Tootles, only enjoyed for an afternoon.
Wendy's identity crisis also explains her affinity for the Maginot aliens, whom she considers "honest." These creatures are wholly themselves, unlike liars such as Boy Kavalier. As Wendy points out, he considers himself Peter Pan, but he was never truly a boy. He was always a "mean, angry little man," just like his abusive father. Ouch. I'm not sure he'll be picking up a copy of Peter Pan any time soon after that.
"Now we rule."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
"The Real Monsters" ends with Wendy and the Lost Boys holding all of the authority figures in their lives hostage in the same cage they were formerly incarcerated in, prompting Wendy's declaration that, "now, we rule." Even Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), their Prodigy synth senior, and Morrow, their cyborg antagonist, now answer to them.
The hybrids finally taking control is undoubtedly worthy of Alien: Earth's last hard-rocking needle drop. But it's certainly not the end of the Lost Boys' story. After all, the Weyland-Yutani forces are still encroaching on the island with numerous Prodigy forces still left, hinting at more conflict ahead. Plus, the alien orchid is loose, and T. Ocellus has found a new host in the chestburst corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). That's a lot of threats for these still-young hybrids to deal with. How will they be able to fight off their enemies and learn how to rule their island?
That question of what it will look like for hybrids to "rule" hints at an intriguing new literary reference point for a possible Alien: Earth Season 2. If Season 1 was the Lost Boys growing up in the style of Peter Pan, then Season 2 might just see them learning to survive on an island in the vein of Lord of the Flies. With that in mind, who's Piggy, who's Ralph, and will the Xenomorph's head somehow wind up on the end of a pointy stick?
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
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