Shakespeare’s world opens the door to the Bard’s genius
This year’s best actress winner has to be Jessie Buckley – Oscar nominations out on January 22.
Films by Graham Young
HAMNET (12A, 126 mins) *****
Shakespeare’s own love life has been inspiring novelists and others for more than two centuries.
Now, almost three decades after John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love (1998) won seven Oscars including best picture by depicting a fictional love affair during the writing of Romeo and Juliet, an even better movie has reached the silver screen.
Based on co-writer Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, Hamnet is a fictionalised account of the Bard meeting future wife Agnes (i.e. Anne) Hathaway. Tragedy strikes and Will is consumed by work in London.
Jessie Buckland and Paul Mescal are fabulous in the leading roles, though the latter might well face an insurmountable Oscar hurdle thanks to New York star Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (see below)
Nomadland (2020) saw Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao become only the second (of now three women) to win an Oscar for best director and she’s sure to be in the running again this year.
With co-producers including Sam Mendes (Skyfall) and Steven Spielberg and cinematography by Lukasz Zal (The Zone of Interest, 2023), her Hamnet film looks fabulous and is generously paced. Max Richter’s sparingly-used but effective score is another bonus.
Hamnet (one of the couple’s children) would have been considered the same name as Hamlet (his greatest play) back in Shakespeare’s day and here the twain shall ingeniously meet.
The 12A certificate is surprising given the nature of a prime sex scene (think Kate Winslet in Little Children, 2006) so why not award a 15 when there’s little of interest here for youngsters, full stop?
For older teenagers, though, Hamnet’s greatest purpose will be to act like the mysterious cave in the forest and the archway entrance to the stage – a portal to take them beyond the blind-spot that Shakespeare’s original verses can have.
How little things build up into the bigger picture revealed later on in the film is as magical as they become profoundly moving.
Hamnet is a wondrous reminder of how lucky we all are that the world’s greatest playwright grew up barely 30 miles down the road from Brum.
GIANT (15, 110 mins) ***
The son of Yemeni parents, retired Sheffield boxer Naseem ‘Prince’ Hamed retired aged just 28 after winning five different world belts in the bantam, super-bantam and featherweight divisions.
Hamed’s third fight was at the NEC. His last, in the US, followed his only defeat, for a career record of 36 wins in 37 bouts (31 kos).
Directed by British-Indian filmmaker Rowan Athale (Strange But True, 2019), this ‘origin’ film is at its best depicting a child who is something of a spring-footed Boxing – not Billy – Elliot.
Giant captures his Muhammad Ali-style showmanship (somersaults over the top rope were a speciality) but the story covers far too many years at the expense of delivering more intensity in the ring.
Hamed was driven by a no-nonsense, Irish trainer with whom he would fall out. Brendan Ingle is well played by the scarcely-recognisable former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan delivering one of the performances of his own career in the gym.
A producer credit for Rocky star Sylvester Stallone feels less authentic given that even Hamed had no involvement in this fictionalised film, preferring instead to plan a future documentary series which will, perhaps, be more explosive on both sides of the ropes.
Although it’s great to hear most of The Sweet’s only No 1 hit Blockbuster in cinema sound, it’s also thrown in like a bizarre, wild punch. That Hamed wasn’t even born until 13 months after it topped the charts in January, 1973 kind of sums up the film’s missteps that are at odds with its subject.
MARTY SUPREME (15, 150 mins) *****
Jewish brothers Josh and Benny Safdie are known for both making Robert Pattinson’s Good Time (2017) and Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems (2019) – but they are currently on separate trajectories in two worlds of sport.
Shot by Benny, last autumn’s The Smashing Machine (2025) saw The Rock Dwayne Johnson failing to surpass Mickey Rourke’s brilliance in The Wrestler (2008), but Josh’s film here with Timothée Chalamet on outrageously good form is the easy winner.
Having shone as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown (2024), as well as making the rebooted Dune movies irresistibly spectacular, Chalamet will be hard to beat in the race for this year’s best actor Oscar winner.
The action is set in 1950s’ New York where Chalamet is rising table tennis star Marty Mauser. There’s a long overdue return to form for Gwyneth Paltrow, too, as a retired actress, and real-life entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary is brilliant as her husband Milton Rockwell.
Though brutal at times, the film is more Goodfellas lite than a sports movie per se.
But, although the story is a touch episodic and arguably over-arced, the phenomenal way it’s shot is a reminder of movies like Birdland (2014) during the extraordinary period when Mexican cinematographer, Emmanual Lubezki, somehow won the Oscar three years in a row.
For Marty’s chaotic adventures to be this damn watchable for 150 minutes is a supreme achievement in itself thanks to the fabulous 35mm film cinematography by Iranian-born Darius Khondji (Seven). Expect the film to snaffle awards’ nominations galore.
ANACONDA (12A, 99 mins) ***
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) director Tom Gormican is back with a group of bored, mid-life friends keen to remake a favourite giant snake film from their youth. But how do you handle a real snake?
After a bright opening, this remains a watchable-enough jungle adventure. At its height, during one exceptional chase sequence, it’s fang-fully very funny indeed.
Best of all, Jack Black is finally – and consistently – back to his School of Rock (2003) level. Thanks to the likes of Tenacious D and Gulliver’s Travels in between, it’s been a long 23 years despite his animated Kung Fu Panda adventures!
SENTIMENTAL VALUE (15, 133 mins) ****
Rather like Hamnet, this family-values story quietly goes about its business in impressive fashion with a filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgård) on a domestic learning curve thanks to his daughters.
Beautifully acted and very well shot on clever sets, this is one of those rare films where the perfect subtitles actually enable you to concentrate on the visual side of cinema just as easily. A treat of a reminder about what’s important in life from Norwegian director Joachim Trier (Louder Than Bombs, 2015).
Reviewing films in Birmingham since 1989, Graham Young is a former UK Regional Film Journalist of the Year and three-time runner-up.
PICTURE CREDIT
Hamnet / Universal