While alone in the woods, Agnes (Jesse Buckley) asks Will (Paul Mescal) to tell her a story to which he asks “What story would you like?”. “Something that moves you”. With Hamnet, Chloe Zhao has created a beautifully moving depiction of grief and the healing, communal power of art. It's a tear jerker that some may pessimistically label as “Oscar Bait” but it deserves all the praise it gets. Based on the novel of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao, Hamnet depicts the real-life tragedy of the loss of William’s Shakespeare’s son, that inspired the creation of one Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Will, a latin tutor, follows Agnes into the woods where she is summoning her Hawk. The two fall in love and soon Agnes is pregnant. Despite his family’s disdain, Will intends to marry Agnes, and with the blessing of her brother, Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn), he does so. Several years later, Will and Agnes are now expecting their third child - although it turns o...