Hamnet
Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal in “Hamnet.” Photo by Agata Grzybowska - © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC., via IMDb.com After winning Oscars for Frances McDormand and herself by portraying contemporary America as “Nomadland,” director Chloé Zhao goes back 400 years to Elizabethan England to create her next masterpiece. It's called “Hamnet.” It's excruciating and profound. You probably won't get through it dry eyed. It breaks your heart … then makes it soar. Revolving around Jesse Buckley's force-of-nature performance, almost every name in the credits – beginning with executive producer Steven Spielberg – is an award nomination in the making. Co-written by Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell from O'Farrell's historical novel, “Hamnet” is a love story. Many love stories, actually. The first is the fable of a Latin tutor named Will (Paul Mescal), who aspires to be a writer. He forgets all about the two boys he is teaching when he sees th...