Game designer Hideo Kojima publicly admired Chloé Zhao's new film "Hamnet", calling the director a "witch or perhaps an angel." He shared his impressions after a private screening of the film.
In just 126 minutes, it encompasses all the sorrow, pain, loss, fear, love, and joy, healing and hope that are inherent in life in all times and cultures. This beautiful final scene is capable of rewriting film history. It reveals the miracle of films. To create something like this, Chloé Zhao must be a witch—or perhaps an angel.
"Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague" was first shown in August 2025 at the Telluride Film Festival, and was released on December 12. The film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel of the same name addresses the tragedy in William Shakespeare's family - the death of his son Hamnet. The film focuses not only on Agnes' maternal pain, but also on Shakespeare's own inner turmoil, tracing how personal loss turned into an artistic impulse and formed the basis of "Hamlet."
Paul Mescal played Shakespeare, Jessie Buckley played Agnes, and Jacobi Jupe played Hamnet Shakespeare. Buckley's work earned her an Oscar nomination, and the film itself received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.