To Review, or Not to Review

Well before it earned eight Academy Award nominations, including for best picture, I went to see Chloé Zhao’s film Hamnet at the Cineplex Varsity in downtown Toronto. Just over two hours later, I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Hardly anyone in the small auditorium spoke as the credits began to roll. The story of William Shakespeare’s eleven-year-old son, whose death in 1596 supposedly inspired Hamlet, had ripped all our hearts out.

I mentioned the audience’s reaction to a friend the next morning, and he said he’d try to see the adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel from 2020, published in Canada as Hamnet & Judith. Before he got around to it, the movie won two Golden Globes, having been up for a total of six, and was named one of the top ten productions of 2025 by the American Film Institute. Yet it turns out he didn’t particularly care for this darling of Hollywood’s awards season. “Definitely emotional,â€...