Hamnet (2025)

Gary bailed on this halfway through, which is too bad since it really turns into something beautiful and affecting in the latter third or so. But, that's the whole problem with this: it's such a slow burn for the first hour or so that it takes real determination to keep going. All of the characters felt as though they were deliberately being kept at a distance -- even the extremely powerful scene depicting the birth of Agnes's first child felt like I was witnessing it from the nosebleeds. Why?

The only thing that's likely to stick in my memory from this is the beautiful and astonishing work of Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet. I haven't been this enthralled by a child actor since Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. I hope Jupe continues to land work like this. I'll be watching.

C+