HAMNET
(12A) 125mins
★★★★★
BEFORE Hamlet, there was Hamnet.
William Shakespeare’s only son died at the tender age of 11 and his death is said to have inspired the famous play.
Now, more than 400 years later, this is the story of that family tragedy.
Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel, it explores how William (Paul Mescal) met and married wife Anne Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) and went on to have three children with her.
The young couple meet in the woods as Anne, or Agnes as she introduces herself, has wild roots.
Her mother was said to have magical powers and be able to heal people with her homemade medicines from the land.
Untamed woman
Agnes knows these potions and spends her days wandering the woodland with knotted hair and a bird of prey on her arm.
William is paying off his family debts by tutoring Agnes’s half-brothers and spots the untamed, intriguing woman.
The pair soon start a passionate love affair.
They have a deep understanding of each other’s souls and marry, making a life together in the home of William’s parents (Emily Watson and David Wilmot) in Stratford.
Soon, babies are born with a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Judith and Hamnet.
Life is full of love and adventure for the family, but William is becoming suffocated by his inability to use his talent.
He is persuaded by Agnes to leave for London where he must write for the theatre. His move sees a change for the family he knew and left behind — and becomes a devastating weight in his life.
This remarkable film, directed by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao, is a thing of breathtaking beauty.
The sets are so alive, you feel as though you have stepped into 16th-century England.
Mescal is a powerful presence on screen, but it is Buckley’s performance as the complicated Agnes that is bewitching.
Her pain penetrates through the screen on such a raw level that you feel it all.
The scenes between these two huge talents are allowed to flow and build — they take on a pace of their own.
This heart-wrenching film shows that human problems will always remain the same: Love and loss affect us all, regardless of fame or status.
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GIANT
(15) 110mins
★★★★☆
SYLVESTER STALLONE produced this movie about ex-world champion Prince Naseem Hamed – but don’t expect a Rocky copycat.
You won’t find sequences of the Sheffield featherweight running up steps or repeatedly getting up off the canvas after taking a beating.
Instead Giant is about the complicated relationship between the increasingly razzmatazz-obsessed Naz and his community-based trainer Brendan Ingle.
Although Hamed – played by Amir El-Masry as an adult – became a global sensation in the 1990s, it is Pierce Brosnan’s Ingle who is the star of this very British film.
It finds humour in punctuating the glamour of boxing, with the trainer travelling on the bus and promoting fights by getting Naz to dress as a sheikh and wave to fans from a Volvo’s sunroof.
Brosnan is a revelation as the no-nonsense Irishman, proving there is a lot more to him than his looks.
You can feel how wounded Ingle’s pride is when Naz starts to believe this father figure is dispensable. Near the end, director Rowan Athale diminishes Giant with a cheap and unnecessary trick.
But this is a great story that had to be told.
BECOMING VICTORIA WOOD
(15) 90mins
★★☆☆☆
EVEN when Victoria Wood got a regular slot on Esther Rantzen’s hit TV show That’s Life, she was “still in my bedsit and still on the dole”.
But the Bury-born comedian never gave up hope of stardom and ended up selling out the Royal Albert Hall for a record 15 nights.
Unfortunately, while this documentary promises great things, there is little chance of it filling cinemas.
It boasts of revealing previously unseen material, such as old recordings, notebooks and diaries.
There is a snippet of Victoria performing at a 1973 university concert and very occasional quotes from her diaries.
But the main portion of this is previously seen archive footage of interviews with the comic and her best-known sketches.
There are also interviews with colleagues, such as Jasper Carrott and Dawn French, and old school pals.
Most of them hint at a more interesting story but director Catherine Abbott plays things safe instead.
It’s a shame because Wood had a humorous approach to tough issues and took chances.
Only total aficionados should be yelling, “Let’s do it, let’s do it tonight” about this tame documentary.
GRANT ROLLINGS
