Film Review – Hamnet

In the troubled year of 2020, writer/director Chloe Zhao managed a career breakthrough with “Nomadland,” offering a sobering exploration of American economic and social survival woes in a feature that found an audience and was rewarded with Oscar gold, including Best Picture and Best Director. Zhao was teed up to do whatever she wanted, but she went the Marvel way, taking command of 2021’s “Eternals,” endeavoring to bring her spare style and interest in soulful investigation to the picture. The expensive movie didn’t work, and it crashed at the box office, and now four years later, Zhou returns with “Hamnet,” which plays like a reconnection to the filmmaker’s indie roots, going quiet and pained once again with a story about grief and the restorative power of art involving William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes. While the dramatic impact of “Hamnet” is up for debate, Zhou certainly tries to make an emotional effort, returning to her love of screen intimacy and the showy ways of acting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com